MANSEHRA: A large number of people on Saturday marched through the city and blocked the Karakoram Highway in Gazikot area for more than two hours to protest a man’s killing.

The road blockade suspended traffic for many hours to the inconvenience of motorists and motorcyclists.

The protesters, who placed the body in the middle of the highway, shouted slogans to demand the immediate arrest of killers.

The police said Raheel Bashir and Mohammad Hafiz had allegedly gunned down Mohammad Hashim after altercation on Friday night over a dispute and fled.

Protesters disperse after police promise arrest of killers in 24 hours

They said they had booked the alleged killers and began investigation.

The protesters tried to torch a car showroom owned by the alleged killer but the bid was foiled by the policemen deployed there.

The bosses of the local police later pacified protesters by promising the arrest of killers within 24 hours.

The mob dispersed peacefully warning the highway would be blocked for indefinite period if killers were not arrested.

There followed resumption of the movement of vehicles and motorcycles on the highway.

SUICIDE ATTEMPT: A undertrial youngster on Saturday attempted to commit suicide at the district jail here.

Zubair Ahmad, 17, was arrested in Abbottabad on the extortion charge.

“We have booked the youngster for trying to commit suicide by bleeding himself using a broken bulb,” jail superintendent Abdul Qayyum told reporters.

The jail superintendent said Zubair Ahmad had beaten up many prisoners in the past.

He said on the complaints of other prisoners, the undertrial was shifted to a separate cell, where he had attempted to kill himself.

The jail superintendent said the city police station had booked the youngster and began investigation.

He said Zubair and many others from Abbottabad were kept in Mansehra District Jail as the reconstruction of the Abbottabad prison destroyed in the 2005 earthquake was underway.

SUSPECTED RAPIST HELD: The Mansehra police on Saturday arrested a man in a rape case after a local court cancelled his pre-arrest bail.

The man was suspected of raping a girl and filming her for blackmail in Jabbori area last month. The suspect had got pre-arrest bail form a local court after the police registered a case against her on August 18.

On Saturday, the additional district and sessions judge of Mansehra cancelled the bail and ordered arrest of the suspect.

The girl had alleged the Mansehra police’s investigation officer, too, had sexually assaulted her in a rest house after she contacted him along with family.

She also accused the cop of issuing death threats to her and family for not settling the matter out of the court.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2014