MANSEHRA: Six people, including three transgender persons, were killed and eight suffered critical injures when a wagon carrying a musical group fell into a deep ravine in Pulrah area of Mansehra district on Wednesday.

The group was returning to Taxila after performing at a wedding function in Pulrah area of Mansehra.

“We were on the way back to Taxila in the morning after performing at a night wedding function when the driver lost control of our wagon on Muhar Road and causing it to fall into ravine,” Mohammad Adnan, a member of music group, told reporters at a hospital.

He said the local residents shifted all passengers to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, where doctors pronounced six of them, including three transgender persons, dead.

Of those transvestites, Danish belonged to Karachi and the others, including Naseem alias Guddo and Shahzad alias Phool, to Taxila.

The other deceased included Khursheed of Haripur, Zafar Iqbal of Taxila and an unidentifi ed person.

The police registered an FIR, arrested the wagon’s driver, and began investigation to ascertain the exact cause of the accident. Transgender persons later took to the streets and blocked Abbottabad Road to demand free airplane ticket for the transportation of the body of their community member, Danish, to Karachi.

Led by Shemale Association Hazara division president Maria Khan, demonstrators placed the coffin on the road and shouted slogans against the district government.

They later dispersed peacefully saying they would send the body to Karachi by themselves.

ACTION ORDERED: A local court has ordered strict action against the people involved in the celebratory firing underway in Balakot city and adjoining areas for the last one week.

Civil judge Seemab Waheed called the Balakot police station’s all staff members, including SHO, to the court for explanation on failure to check the excessive celebratory firing in the area.

SHO Arshad Khan showed up in the court along with additional SHO Akhtar Nawaz and staff members and insisted the police had been cracking down on those involved in celebratory fi ring.

The SHO produced two people facing the celebratory fi ring charge before the court, which sent them to jail on judicial remand.

BULLETS SEIZED: The Mansehra police seized over 21,000 bullets from a vehicle near Sheikhabad Afghan refugee camp on Tuesday night.

They also two smugglers of unlicensed arms.

“We have started investigation to ascertain if the seized bullets were brought in for terrorism or other purpose,” deputy superintendent of police (urban) Zulfiqar Khan Jadoon told reporters on Wednesday.

The development came after security was put on high alert in the wake of Quetta suicide bombing.

The DSP said the police had directed the driver to stop wagon at a checkpoint but he sped it away.

He said the police later intercepted the wagon, found 21,000 bullets of different arms from its secret shelves and arrested Mohammad Rafique and Mohammad Faisal.

Published in Dawn October 27th, 2016