SUKKUR: Family members and relatives of five employees of a microfinance bank, who had been kidnapped in Dari Sundani village about a month ago, blocked a section of the Indus Highway in Kashmore on Saturday in protest against police failure to recover their loved ones.

The enraged protesters, including members of Golo, Langah, Dahani and Naseerani clans, along with their supporters, members of political parties and rights activists pitched a tent in the middle of the highway and burnt tyres and junk to block vehicular traffic.

The protesters told journalists that armed dacoits kidnapped Altaf Ahmad Golo, Alam Golo, Gulab Dahani, Farman Ali Langah and Shahnawaz Naseerani, who worked as recovery men with a microfinance bank, when they went to Dari Sundani village, Kandhkot, to recover loans almost a month ago. The bandits took them to riverine area, they said

They said that even though police had registered a case on behalf of the state at Durrani Mahar police station, they had utterly failed to free the hostages.

Families of the victims said that the kidnappers had phoned them and demanded Rs8 million for the hostages’ release. They feared for the lives of their loved ones because they could not arrange the ransom, they said.

The protesters said that policehad completely failed to protect citizens.

They appealed to Supreme Court of Pakistan, Chief of Army Staff and Sindh chief minister to free their loved ones from the dacoits’ clutches and eliminate outlaws from Kandhkot-Kashmore district.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2024