KOHAT, Nov 28: MPA Najma Shaheen and lawyers have claimed that Kohat police failed to control a small number of ‘miscreants’ who created riots soon after Ashura on November 18.

The MPA from Kohat has also submitted a call attention notice in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, saying that police had failed to control the groups of around two dozen protesters who wanted to attack a religious place. She mentioned in the notice that the Kohat police chief had deployed only 10 policemen to control dozens of enraged protesters despite receiving reports that red alert had been announced for Kohat city.

The reports came from the federal and provincial quarters that situation in Kohat was very sensitive and miscreants would try to destroy peace.

She also held the police responsible for the killing of two people, including a policeman, in firing before the riots. She said that the situation which led to the burning of shops and a market also took place because police was not properly deployed.

The DIG, Kohat region, however said that there was shortage of police personnel in Kohat and that was why a small number of policemen accompanied the protesters.

In this regard, lawyers associated with Malgari Wakeelan said that imposition of curfew was a clear proof of the inability of administration to maintain normalcy in Kohat.

The lawyers said in a statement that had the administration taken precautionary measures following the intelligence reports the need for imposing curfew would not have arisen.