Pak Taliban abduct, threaten to kill kin of Frontier Gandhi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Taliban have threatened to kill Frontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan's grandnephew, Ajmal Khan, if the government didn't release its top commanders captured during Pakistan army's campaigns against it by November 20.

Khan, who has been in Taliban captivity since September 7, urged the government to fulfil Taliban demands. "I appeal to my students, teachers and sincere workers of the Awami National Party to press the government to fulfil the ordinary demands made by these people ,'' Khan said in a Taliban video released on Monday.Khan is vice-chancellor of Peshawar's Islamia College University.

In an earlier video in October , Khan had said he was abducted for being Asfandyar Wali Khan's cousin. Asfandyar is the chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's ruling Awami National Party, which has been supporting military operations against militants.

Khan is the grandson of Khan Sahib, Frontier Gandhi's elder brother, who was dismissed as NWFP chief minister for refusing to salute the Pakistani flag in 1947.

Following the emergence of the second video, teachers of 19 universities across Khyber-Pakahtunkhwa went on strike for an indefinite period, PTI added. Khan is second vice chancellor kidnapped in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa following a recent spurt in militancy. Earlier , Lutfullah Kakakhel, Vice Chancellor of Kohat University of Science and Technology, was kidnapped by militants. He was released after remaining in captivity for seven months.