RAHIM YAR KHAN: There were very emotional scenes when nine drum beaters who were kidnapped for ransom met their relatives in a press conference in the neighbouring city of Ubauro (Sindh) after their release. The drum beaters were weeping and hugging with their relatives.

Nine drum beaters were released by a robber’s gang from the Ronti area of Ubauro, district Ghotki near the Rahim Yar Khan border on Sunday morning.

Muhammad Nawaz of Chak 130-JB, Jhok Choghta, registered a first information report on Feb 27 with a police station in the district Chiniot, saying that he owned a drum and dance party under the supervision of Sohail. He said people would call them on their functions because they posted their performance on a YouTube channel and TikTok account. On Feb 24, a man called Sohail and sent Rs6,000 in his Jazz Cash account for the fare of Rahim Yar Khan/Kot Mithan.

The caller invited the party to perform at a Mehndi function on Feb 25. Nine members of the band, namely Ansar Ali, Shafqat, Muhammad Bilal, Ismail, Qammar Abbas, Tayyab Rehman, Numan, Mazhar and Mohsin Ali, went for the function in a small van.

On Feb 25 afternoon, Nawaz’s contact with his group members was cut and their cell phones were powered off. He suspected that all band members had been kidnapped through a trap. Later, the unidentified gangsters started contacting the families of the abductees and demanded Rs10m for their release.

On Sunday, Daharki police in Sindh got the drum beaters released from kidnappers. But soon after their release, the drum beaters posted a video, claiming that their families had paid Rs5m ransom to the gang to get them released. They criticised the Sindh police and termed their claims false.

PPP MPA from Chiniot and parliamentary leader in Punjab Assembly Hassan Murtaza and Mumtaz Chang, a PPP MPA from Rahim Yar Khan, in a press conference on Sunday at Ubauro said the drum beaters were recovered by Sindh police. Hassan claimed his continuous interaction with the chief minister Sindh resulted in the release of the abductees and both the MPAs praised the Sindh police.

Some sources in the border area disclosed that the release of the drum beaters was completed with the coordination between two PPP MPAs, Sindh police, an influential feudal of Rajanpur district and the robbers.

The drum beaters and their relatives departed for Chiniot in the afternoon.

WASEEM SHAMSI FROM SUKKUR ADDS: Ghotki police claimed to have freed nine hostages after a police encounter with the robbers in the katcha area of Ubauro, district Ghokti.

After the report of kidnapping, the police claimed, SSP Tanveer Hussain Tunio tasked House Station Officer Shah Deen Muhammad Leghari to recover the hostages. They told the reporters that SHO Abdul Shakoor Lakho, on tip-off, led a police contingent to conduct a raid when the kidnappers were shifting the hostages to another place. When police tried to corner the robbers, they opened fire on police who retaliated. As a result, the kidnappers abandoned the hostages and fled.

The police brought the hostages to the police station and handed them over to their families.

MPA Hassan Murtaza said police had got the abductees freed and rejected the video on social media in which it was claimed that the abductees were released after payment of ransom as baseless.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2023