Pakistan
Gunmen abduct a judge in Pakistan, later released from captivity
Shakirullah Marwat, the district and sessions judge of Pakistan's South Waziristan region, who had appealed to the government and judiciary to accept the demands of his abductors after being kidnapped a day earlier, was released from captivity on Sunday, media reports said.
The Dera Ismail Khan CTD told Dawn News the abductee reached home safely after being recovered ‘unconditionally’.
Information Adviser to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif later confirmed the judge’s safe recovery.
In a video statement shared earlier from an unknown location, Marwat was seen saying as quoted by Dawn News: "Taliban brought me here. It is a jungle and a war is going on.”
“I request the federal and provincial governments, chief justices of Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan to make sure the Taliban’s demands are accepted and my recovery is made sure as soon as possible,” he said.
According to reports, an FIR was registered following his abduction at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station.
A CTD official told Dawn News the judge’s driver, Sher Ali Khan Mehsud, stated in the FIR that he along with Mr Marwat was going to D.I. Khan from Tank when 25 to 30 people equipped with sophisticated weapons intercepted their car at Garah Mohabbat Morr, forcing it to stop.
The gunmen then fired on the vehicle.
They blindfolded the driver and five of them boarded the judge’s car and drove away.
The FIR added that the judge was dressed in pants and shirt, but the kidnappers took out a shalwar kameez suit from the car and asked him to wear it. The kidnappers then set the car on fire, reported Dawn News.
The FIR said that the gunmen asked the driver to convey to the authorities that their relatives were kept in jails and they would release the judge if their demands were met, but warned of serious consequences otherwise.
The attackers then took the judge on a motorcycle.
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