MIRAMSHAH (North Waziristan), Jan 27: Former governor of Paktia, Badshah Khan Zadran, has been on hunger strike for the last five days in a jail here.

Mr Zadran's health has deteriorated and he has refused to get treatment from a medical team sent by the political administration for his checkup.

He went on hunger strike on Thursday and demanded to know on what charges he was being held in prison for more than two months. Sources said the political administrationwas also in the dark about the charges.

They said the former governor was brought to an official rest house here when he visited his relatives in the Dan-day Darpakhel area in November, 2003, to celebrate Eidul Fitr.

The administration shifted him to a prison three days later and did not allow any visitors to see him. Mr Zadran, who was a known anti-Taliban leader, had participated in the Bonn Conference and he was appointed Paktia governor by President Hamid Karzai.

He revolted against the Karzai administration because he thought former king Zahir Shah had been sidelined and continued to work as governor after the president removed him from the post.