Militants free KUST VC after 6 months of captivity

Source: The News

Militants on Tuesday freed vice-chancellor of the Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel, after six and a half months of captivity.




“Yes, he has been released and first went to the Governor’s House for a meeting with Owais Ahmed Ghani,” Saleh Kakakhel, the eldest son of the released academician, who had been running from pillar to post to secure the recovery of his father, confirmed to The News.



The Kohat commissioner also confirmed the recovery of missing vice- chancellor and said he had been recovered from a tribal area. “We have been making hectic efforts for his release since he was kidnapped. The kidnappers had been shifting him from one place to another. Finally we managed his safe and sound recovery,” Khalid Khan Umerazai, commissioner of Kohat division, said.The recovered senior academician was taken to the Governor’s House amid strict security.



Commissioner Kohat, a source said, had asked Dr Lutfullah a few days before his kidnapping to take proper security measures while travelling through volatile Darra Adamkhel. The vice-chancellor, however, never paid heed to the matter that concerned his security.



It was not known whether ransom had been paid to the kidnappers or the security forces managed to recover the scientist. Sources disclosed the kidnappers were demanding Rs40 million as well as release of some of their men for freeing Dr Kakakhel.



Authorities had arrested 63 tribesmen from Frontier Region Kohat and impounded their four vehicles under Collective Responsibility Section of the Frontier Crimes Regulation in the case. Search operations were conducted in Orakzai and Pastawuna area of Darra Adamkhel as well as other tribal areas in the past six months for the recovery of Dr Lutfullah.



“I am thankful to all those who made efforts for my release,” Dr Lutfullah told media persons. He added that kidnappers had made him hostage to secure release of their men.Hundreds of relatives, friends, colleagues and students of Dr Lutfullah gathered at his residence to greet the vice-chancellor. Many broke into tears after failing to control their emotions.



Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel, in his early 60s, was kidnapped on November 6 last year along with driver Raj Wali and another staff member Nadir Sarfaraz from Akhurwal, Darra Adamkhel on way from office to his residence inside the UoP campus. The two other persons were later freed but he was shifted to an unknown place.



Dr Lutfullah did his PhD from Glasgow University in Scotland in 1978 after which he taught there for few years before returning Pakistan.Two of his children are electrical engineers while another is a student of the KP University of Engineering and Technology. The spouse of Dr Lutfullah is a professor at the Bio-Technology Department of the University of Peshawar.



Meanwhile, Federation of Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association president Dr Fida thanked the media and all the government functionaries, who highlighted the case of the vice-chancellor and thus played a role in securing his safe release.