Kidnapped VC appeals for help in his second video in Pak

The second video featuring Islamia College University Vice Chancellor Ajmal Khan, a cousin of Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, surfaced yesterday.
In the video, Khan is shown asking the government to meet his abductors' demands by November 20.

"The government should accept the mujahideen's demands, which are of a trivial nature, by November 20, failing which I may lose my life the following day," Khan says in the video, in which he is seen sitting in front of three masked armed men.

Khan, who was kidnapped on September 7 while going from his home to office, said the ANP, government and students should take an interest in his release.

He said the first video of him released by the militants had no impact on the authorities.
"I appeal to my students, teachers and sincere workers of the ANP to press the government for fulfilling the ordinary demands made by the mujahideen," Khan says in the 92-second video as he reads from a written statement.

Following the emergence of the second video, teachers of 19 public sector universities across Khyber-Pakahtunkhwa province went on strike for an indefinite period from today.
The local chapter of the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association and the Peshawar University Teachers Association announced that varsities would remain shut for an indefinite period.

In a surprising development, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government spokesman and provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the authorities had not received any formal demand from the kidnappers for Khan's release.

"The provincial government does not know who is behind the video shown on TV channels as no group or organization has made any demand and when any demand comes, we will be in a position to say anything," Hussain said.

Khan is the second vice chancellor kidnapped in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa following a recent spurt in militancy.

Earlier, Lutfullah Khan Kakakhel, Vice Chancellor of the Kohat University of Science and Technology, was kidnapped by militants from the restive Darra Adam Khel region in November last year.

He was released after remaining in captivity for almost seven months.