Islamabad, April 27
Two Sikhs, who were abducted from a district in Pakistan's restive North- West Frontier Province (NWFP), have been rescued by the local Taliban and religious scholars, who decided to publicly hang their nine kidnappers on Monday to discourage crimes in the region.

Attar Singh and Sehra Singh were kidnapped by a group of criminals from Dowaba in Hangu district. They were freed on Saturday after the intervention of local Taliban, religious scholars and tribal elders, The News reported.

The members of a tribal jirga or council of elders took the two Sikhs back to their homes.

Sources told the daily that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and local council of clerics had taken nine kidnappers into their custody. One kidnapper was also killed by the Taliban.

A jirga of religious scholars and local Taliban held at the Khadezai area of nearby Aurakzai Agency decided to publicly hang the kidnappers on Monday to discourage crimes in the area.

Spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Maulvi Omar said that the Sikhs were taken by their kidnappers from Dowaba in Hangu to Baghu in Aurakzai Agency. Taliban then conducted an operation on Saturday to release them, he said.

Omar said one of the kidnappers was killed during the operation while their leader, Ghani, was apprehended. — PTI