Kidnappings on the rise in NWFP(Pukhtunkhwa)

Most of the business community and investors belonging to NWFP are leaving the province or even the country, thus shutting down 80 per cent industry in the province due to massive incidents of kidnapping by the militants and other criminals.
Reliable sources told TheNation that the war in the province is not the only problem, there is an even more terrible issue faced by the masses badly affecting the economic condition of the province in particular and the country in general.
They said these criminals, many of them having close ties with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and some other groups, have started kidnapping businessmen, industrialists, NGO staffers, government employees and any wealthy person only to extort money under TTP umbrella.
Sources revealed that more than 1000 persons had been kidnapped during one year and released after payment of billions of rupees ransom. Sources further revealed that the government was ignoring this serious completely issue and was only busy in war on terror.
Mohammad Ishaq, Vice President of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce while talking to TheNation said that most of the industry had been shut down due to the rampant crime. One year earlier there were around 2,254 industrial units working in the province, which had now come down to 594, he lamented.
Both war on terror and kidnapping factors played vital role in destroying the economy of the province. Due to terror war, 178 out of total 500 units closed their operations in Swat but law and order situation forced 55 units to shut down in Peshawar, 9 out of 33 in Risalpur, 80 out of 200 in Hattar Industrial Zone. In addition to deterioration of law and order, withdrawal of incentives caused shut down of 136 units in Gadoon Amazai industrial zone, he said.
The closure of industrial units primarily hit the labour class to the extent that in Peshawar alone, out of 125,000 workers, 100,000 got unemployed, which he said was not an issue to be ignored. He said, “I am the only person still living here but most of my siblings have shifted to other cities of Pakistan and the rest of them were about to take the same decision”. He said that apart from closure of industrial units, 25 per cent of business community had been shifted from the province. “Some have gone to other parts of the country but many who could afford, preferred to leave the country because most of them are those who had been the victim of kidnappers”, he added.