PESHAWAR: Protesting villagers blow up bridge: Toll in shrine attack reaches 12
By Ali Hazrat Bacha
PESHAWAR, March 5: The enraged residents of Sheikhan village blew up a historic bridge in the small hours on Wednesday suspending vehicular traffic between Peshawar and Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.
The administration deputed heavy contingent of police and Frontier Constabulary in the troubled area for averting an imminent clash between the inhabitants of Sheikhan and activists of Lashkar-i-Islami, a militant outfit based in the neighboring Bara area.
The Lashkar members had attacked the village on Monday last killing 10 persons and injuring 13 others besides demolishing a shrine and some houses in the village.
The already tense situation turned violent when charged protesters belonging to various villages on the outskirt of provincial metropolis including Shaikhan, Mashukhail, Mushtarzi, Achini, Sarband, Pishtakhara and Sango took to Bara Road on Wednesday after the news about the death of two injured persons of the Monday’s was spread in the area.
The police resorted to baton charge and fired teargas shells to stop the protesters from proceeding towards the city. The Bara Road remained closed for traffic and most of the public transport vehicles were seen parked at Stadium Chowk, University Town and Ring Road Chowk.
The protesting villagers also retaliated with firing and pelting stones at the police causing injuries to a constable of the District Reserve police. According to sources the majority of the police personnel were recruits who had not yet completed their nine-month training and could not tackle the protestors properly.
The protesters were chanting slogans against the government for its failure to arrest Mangal Bagh, chief of Laskar-i-islam, and his accomplices who were charged with the killing 10 persons and injuring of 13 others including a woman and setting ablaze their houses, a shrine at Shaikhan Village on March 3.
After the demolition of the British-era bridge on the Bara Road, the security personnel restored the traffic by making a temporary route with the help of sandbags. The violent protesters also uprooted the sandbags and destroyed the temporary arrangement which caused serious problems for commuters.
A police official pleading anonymity told Dawn that Mangal Bagh had threatened that he would attack the Shaikhan village again causing unrest among the people. Heavy contingents of police and Frontier Constabulary armed with light and heavy weapons and armored personnel carriers were deployed in the areas to avert any fresh attack by the militant group.
The troopers camped at the Government High School Shaikhan and started taking covers and established checkposts in the areas. The residents of the area said the suspension of traffic on the route was must in the prevailing tense situation otherwise the enraged villagers would have killed many people of the Bara tehsil.
Caretaker of the destroyed shrine Pir Hayatullah , when contacted, told Dawn that 10 villagers had been abducted by Lashkar activists. They are demanding Rs2 million as ransom for their release in addition to a surety of Rs5 million that people of Shaikhan will neither demand compensation for their damage nor stage protests against Lashkar, he added.
He said the elders of the areas had met NWFP chief minister governor to apprise them of the situation, who had assured them of taking action against Mangal Bagh and his men.
