A large number of people on Wednesday staged a sit-in
alongside 15 bodies of their loved ones in front of Governor House in
Peshawar. They were protesting against the killing of people whose
mutilated bodies were recovered from the Bara area of Khyber Agency
Tuesday evening.
The bullet-riddled bodies were found in the Alam Gudar area. The bodies of a woman and two children killed in the incident were not brought to the sit-in.
Reporters and media personnel present on the protest site estimated that around 5,000 people took part in the sit-in underway on Sher Shah Suri Road, right in front of Governor House.
Bara tribesmen are sitting outside Governor House with caskets and bodies of their family members who were killed.
The protesters, including family members of the deceased and social activists, chanted slogans against the army and the security agencies stationed in Khyber Agency and blamed them for the killings.
The tribesmen from Bara said that the people killed were not militants but ordinary citizens, who they said were murdered in cold blood by the security agencies.
Express News reported that a scuffle broke out as Senator Hameedullah Jan Afridi attempted to address the sit-in.
The mob attacked the senator by hurling stones and shoes at him. Soon after, a supporter who was accompanying Afridi fired in the air to disperse the mob and the senator was escorted to his car to escape the clash.
The protestors said that they had not seen the senator, who hails from the Bara region, for almost four and a half years. They said that Afridi resided peacefully in Islamabad, while the situation in Bara worsened over the years.
A 12-member delegation has been constituted to negotiate with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s governor. The committee will put forth the demands of the protestors, including ending military offensive in Bara and compensating the heirs.
Correction: An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that there were 18 bodies at the sit-in instead of 15.
The bullet-riddled bodies were found in the Alam Gudar area. The bodies of a woman and two children killed in the incident were not brought to the sit-in.
Reporters and media personnel present on the protest site estimated that around 5,000 people took part in the sit-in underway on Sher Shah Suri Road, right in front of Governor House.
Bara tribesmen are sitting outside Governor House with caskets and bodies of their family members who were killed.
The protesters, including family members of the deceased and social activists, chanted slogans against the army and the security agencies stationed in Khyber Agency and blamed them for the killings.
The tribesmen from Bara said that the people killed were not militants but ordinary citizens, who they said were murdered in cold blood by the security agencies.
Express News reported that a scuffle broke out as Senator Hameedullah Jan Afridi attempted to address the sit-in.
The mob attacked the senator by hurling stones and shoes at him. Soon after, a supporter who was accompanying Afridi fired in the air to disperse the mob and the senator was escorted to his car to escape the clash.
The protestors said that they had not seen the senator, who hails from the Bara region, for almost four and a half years. They said that Afridi resided peacefully in Islamabad, while the situation in Bara worsened over the years.
A 12-member delegation has been constituted to negotiate with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s governor. The committee will put forth the demands of the protestors, including ending military offensive in Bara and compensating the heirs.
Correction: An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that there were 18 bodies at the sit-in instead of 15.
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