HANGU, Jan 20: Residents of Darsamand and its adjoining villages here on Tuesday blocked the Kohat-Parachinar road at different points for six hours to protest against the failure of the authorities to recover four people believed to have been kidnapped for ransom about two weeks ago. The protesters burnt old tyres and placed heavy rocks on the road to block the flow of traffic, and demanded the immediate recovery of the four people.

Three of the kidnap victims were from Punjab province working as carpenters in the area. They were identified as Akram, Fayyaz and Fazal Karim. The fourth man, identified as Ajmal, hailed from the Darsamand village. A pick-up truck was also stolen.

The protesters who were led by elders and elites of the area warned that if the kidnap victims were not recovered in three days, they would again block the road.

Later, Hangu district nazim Pir Haider Ali Shah, Kohat SSP Abdi Ali and Hangu ASP Rana Abdul Jabbar held talks with the protesters to open the road.

They dispersed after being given assurances by authorities that the four men would be recovered soon. Traffic on the road was restored after six hours. However, they warned that the kidnapped men must be recovered in three days, otherwise the people would again come out on the road in protest.

PESCO WARNED: District naib nazim Haji Bismillah Khan has issued a warning that power consumers in Hangu would begin protests if the staff of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) did not end electricity loadshedding in three days.

The naib nazim told a press conference here on Tuesday that the frequent power outages had made life miserable for the people in the rural areas of the district. He claimed that the Pesco staff carried out loadshedding for long periods to hide their inefficiency.

Haji Bismillah while quoting the Pesco's executive engineer said that they observed no loadshedding in the district and that the power supply was disconnected from Kohat. He warned the Pesco staff that the people would come out on the roads if the situa-tion was not rectified in three days.