GILGIT: Hundreds of people demonstrated in Chatorkhand valley of Ghizer district on Saturday against the killing of a teenage boy after assault as the police obtained 10-day physical remand of the accused from anti-terrorism court in Gilgit.

A large number of people belonging to political, religious and social organisations participated in the protest. They alleged that the real culprits were still at large.

Speaking to the protesters, member GB Assembly Nawaz Khan Naji and others condemned the incident and said the victim’s father had nominated two culprits in the case, but police had failed to arrest them so far.

The protesters kept the Chatorkhand road blocked for about six hours.

In an application to the SHO Immit police station, the victim’s father has requested for nominating Farooq and Abdul Manan from Tashnalut village in the FIR.

The victim’s family also appealed to the GB police chief to personally monitor the case to ensure that the culprits were prosecuted and given exemplary punishment for the crime.

The victim’s family also expressed apprehension that the culprits and their families could influence the investigation process by employing different means.

On Feb 6, body of Didar Hussain, 14, a 7th class student of Tashnalote village of Immit, was recovered from a river.

According to the police, the boy was molested before being killed by eight residents of the same area.

After the incident, the Ghizer police registered a case and arrested seven accused identified as Aziz, Mohammad Umer, Noor Azam, Noor Mohammad, Gohar Aman, Noor Azam, Sher Islam and Abdul Latif.

The accused belonged to Khelochay and Gujjar tribes, who are settled in the area after migrating from Kohistan district of KP.

During the investigations, they confessed to the crime.

On Friday, police obtained 10-day physical remand of the accused from anti-terrorism court in Gilgit.

A JIT has also been constituted for investigating the case.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2019