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Taliban demands prisoner swap

ISLAMABAD: The situation in the North-West district of Hangu remained tense for the second day on Friday with Taliban militants refusing to release government employees they have taken hostage until the seven militants, taken into custody earlier this week, are released.

The exact number of hostages remains unclear. The government said the Taliban kidnapped 17 employees. However, the Taliban claims to have 27, all of whom it said are security personnel — 12 from the Army, eight are from the Frontier Corps and seven from the police.

On Wednesday night, around 400 Taliban laid siege to the Doaba police station in Hangu after the police arrested seven militants. The siege lasted several hours, until the provincial government sought the Army’s help. As troops moved in from nearby Kohat, the Taliban dispersed, but continue to hold the government employees.

Dawn News TV reported the Tehreek-i-Taliban, an umbrella group of militants, saying unless those arrested were released, the militants would start killing the hostages one by one.

The government had begun negotiations for the release of the abducted employees on Thursday through a local jirga.

The government wants an unconditional release, but the Taliban has asked for the release of the militants and withdrawal of troops from the area.

Separately, a hunt is still on for a team of polio vaccinators who were missing from the Mohamand tribal agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Area. The Taliban and religious conservatives in the tribal areas oppose polio vaccination as a “conspiracy” by the U.S. to cause infertility in Muslims and thus finish off Muslim populations.

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