TIMERGARA, June 10: Grief and anger gripped the entire lower Dir district on Thursday when bodies of seven soldiers of Dir Scouts
, who were killed in an attack by militants in the Shkai area in South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday night, arrived here.
The seven soldiers were killed when a contingent of Dir Scouts and army troops deployed at a militia camp in the Shkai area, west of South Waziristan Agency headquarters, Wana, came under rocket and mortar attack from suspected foreign militants and their tribal protectors on Wednesday night.
The troops were engaged in a fierce battle with the militants in the troubled area. The bodies were brought to Timergarah in a helicopter from Wana. Their joint funeral was held at the scouts fort in the district headquarters town, after which the bodies were sent to their native villages for burial.
All the seven soldiers belonged to the Talash area. The victims were identified as havaldar Ghaniur Rehman, resident of Cheeno Talash, naik Khan Bahadur and sepoy Khaista Badshah, residents of Dheri Talash, sepoy Sarfaraz Khan, resident of Barikot Talash, sepoy Khalid Gul, resident of Haji Baba Talash, sepoy Javed Khan, resident of Ouch, sepoys Islamul Haq and Farid Khan, residents of Bagh Talash, and sepoy Ibrahim Khan, resident of Chakdara.
The seven scouts were later laid to rest at their respective villages with full military honour. During the funeral, speakers bitterly criticized the government policies and said it had made "full-scale arrangements to pit Pukhtuns against Pukhtuns."
They said that the Wana operation would have a very negative fallout for the government. The speakers said that Gen Pervez Musharraf was "killing his own people to win US favours."
The residents said that the sons of the soil had jointed the armed forces only to defend the country's frontiers. Meanwhile, a demonstration was organized on the call of the Jamaat-i-Islami to denounce the Wana operation and protest the killings of Dir scouts. The protesters blocked the Peshawar-Dir road for two hours.
The protest demonstration was led by JI Dir amir and MNA Maulana Ghafoor Ahmad Ghawas. The speakers expressed anger over the Wana operation and demanded that the government stop it immediately.
They also gave a call for a complete strike on Friday to protest the scouts killings. It may be mentioned that some of the deceased had initially refused to take part in the Wana operation two months back but were later persuaded to change their mind by friends and relatives.
