PESHAWAR, Oct 13: Two young brothers were shot dead for rejecting a marriage proposal for their sister at Adezai village in the suburbs of Peshawar here on Thursday morning, police and residents said.

An official of Matni police station said that the brothers, Wajahat and Mushahid Waqar, were on way to their college when a group of people opened indiscriminate fire on them. He said that both were critically injured and taken to Lady Reading Hospital but did not survive.

The police official said that relatives of the victims had nominated Fida Hussain, Wali Mohammad and Akhtar – sons of Sher Ahmed – and Abdur Raziq and Abdul Khaliq, belonging to the same area, in the murder case.

The relatives brought the bodies of the young men to Peshawar Press Club and held a protest demonstration on Sher Shah Suri Road to demand early arrest of the accused. They were also shouting slogans against the area police, saying they were not taking action against the accused persons.

The demonstration also led to disruption of traffic on the Sher Shah Suri Road for some time.

A complainant Irfan, cousin of the victims, said that Sher Ahmed and Wali Mohammad had sent a proposal for the marriage of a relative with the victims' sister, but the girl's brothers refused that.

He alleged that Adezai Qaumi lashkar was backing the accused party and demanded action against the peace body leaders. He demanded of the government to ban the activities of the lashkar otherwise it would create law and order problems in the areas.

When contacted, deputy head of the peace body Fazal Malik rejected the allegations and said that the lashkar had nothing to do with the double murder case and it was a clash between families.

“Actually, Sher Ahmed and Wali Mohammad along with elders of the area had visited the residence of Wajahat and Mushahid Waqar about a month ago in connection with the marriage proposal but the latter exchanged hot words with the notables and then opened fire which resulted in the death of one elder Ghulam Mohammad,” Mr Malik claimed.

The peace body deputy head said that Ghulam Mohammad was his maternal uncle, but he had nothing to do with the recent incident.

Another person, whose identity could not be ascertained, had also sustained bullet injuries in the Thursday's incident. The Matni police have registered a double murder case against the accused.