Relatives set deadline for safe recovery of missing Peshawar SP

PESHAWAR: The relatives of missing Superintendent of Police (SP) Rural Muhammad Tahir Khan and representative of Waziristan Qaumi Jirga on Tuesday set a five-day deadline for the safe recovery of the police officer and threatened to launch a protest campaign if their demand was not fulfilled.

Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club, Ahmaddin, the brother of the SP Tahir Khan, chief of Waziristan Qaumi Jirga Rahmatullah and others deplored that no progress had been made about his whereabouts even after 11 days of 'disappearance.'

Flanked by tribal elders Malik Jalal Khan, Malik Ghafar Wazir, tribal journalist Samiullah and others, Ahmaddin said that the family was passing through severe mental agony after the disappearance of SP Tahir Khan.

Holding the daughter of the missing cop in his hands, he said that Inspector General of Police (IGP) Salahudddin Khan and other police high-ups had given them verbal assurances but no headway could be made to trace the missing family member.

Malik Jalal Manzarkhel said the state institutions seemed least bothered to recover the missing SP or arrest his abductors. He said the missing SP belongs to North Waziristan tribal district and the people were concerned about the incident.

Ahmaddin added that Tahir Khan was a brave son of the soil and was targetted and injured in various suicide attacks and other life attempts in the past. He maintained that the SP was 'picked up' without citing any reason or involvement in any anti-state or criminal activity, which he said was worrying. Ahmaddin added that no information about the missing SP was shared with his family or other people making efforts to know about the wellbeing of the missing cop, which raised concern among the people of his native Waziristan.

"Thousands of tribespeople across the country would take to the streets after the expiry of the five-day deadline and stage sit-ins in Peshawar and Islamabad if the missing SP is not recovered," he warned.

The speakers said that in the second phase of the protest campaign, the tribespeople would stage a long march on Islamabad. Tahir Khan had gone missing after he left his residence in Islamabad for a walk on October 26 last.