MARDAN: The murder of a minor boy in Bajor Koroona has sparked protest in the area.

The relatives of the victim as Haris and residents of the area put his body on the busy Mardan-Nowshera Road and blocked it for several hours on Sunday.

The protesters were chanting slogans against police. They demanded immediate arrest of the killers.

The protesters dispersed peacefully when district nazim Himayatullah Mayar, DPO Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad, SP Gulnawaz Khan and AC Imran Khan held negotiation with them and assured them that the killers would be arrested within three days.

DIG Mohammad Sher Alam Khan Shinwari told this scribe that the seven-year-old boy was tortured before murder. He said that there were signs of torture on his throat but it was not confirmed whether he was strangulated or not.

He said that they were waiting for medical report to ascertain his cause of death. He said that it would be premature to say something about sexual assault on the minor victim.

The DIG said that they would receive postmortem report tomorrow from the doctors at Mardan Medical Complex Hospital.

The officials of relevant Sheikh Maltoon police station said that the father of the victim was a daily wager at the fruit and vegetable market. They said that he had approached them on Saturday for registration of FIR about missing of his son.

The officials said that the body of the victim was found in a plastic bag near his home in small hours of Sunday. They said that they lodged FIR against unidentified persons.

The officials said that a contingent of police cordoned off the area and started search operation. They said that they had taken some suspected persons into custody for interrogation.

The incident has sent a wave of fear, anger and grief among the local people. At least two similar cases have been reported in Mardan this year.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2018