PESHAWAR: The police and khasadar personnel manning the Karkhano crossing on the border of the provincial capital and Khyber tribal region fired bullets in the air after trading heated exchanges for the arrest of a suspected auto-thief on Saturday.

The unusual incident led the closure of the Karkhano crossing for more than two hours suspending traffic on the Pak-Afghan Highway.

However, the local administration’s intervention pacified both sides and restored traffic.

The crossing is the busiest entry point to Khyber region from Peshawar.

An official of the Hayatabad police station claimed that the incident took place when the khasadar personnel of Jamrud area stopped the policemen chasing a car stolen from Punjab.

Stand-off for arrest of auto-thief suspends traffic on Pak-Afghan Highway for two hours

He told Dawn that a tracker was installed in the car, which was stolen in Rawalpindi and whose theft case was registered in the New Town police station on Friday.

The official said an unidentified person was present across the border in Khyber area to collect the car and when the policemen tried to capture him, the khasadar personnel offered resistance.

He said there followed a melee with both sides restoring to heated exchanges and firing in the air. The official, however, said the police won’t register FIR against the khasadar personnel.

Peshawar SSP (operations) Javed Iqbal told reporters here that that the suspect, who was to collect the car, stood at the Karkhano crossing.

He said the Hayatabad ASP spoke to the assistant commissioner of Jamrud for the arrest of the suspected auto-thief in Khyber region and that official gave the police the go-ahead for the arrest.

Mr Iqbal claimed that when the police tried to arrest the suspect, the khasadar personnel offered resistance and fired bullets in the air to scare away the police.

He claimed that the police showed the maximum possible restraint.

However, the khasadar force blamed the police for the incident.

An official of the khasadar force told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the force had already stopped the suspected auto-thief.

He said the local head of the khasadar force told the policemen that the suspect stood in the area under his control but the latter felt offended by the claim and seized him by the collar, which led to altercation and firing in the air.

The official said the khasadar personnel briefly detained some policemen.

He said the clash led to the closure of the Karkhano crossing for two and a half hours, while the traffic on the Pak-Afghan highway remained suspended during the standoff.

An official of the local administration told Dawn that the police called the political administration only after their altercation with the khasadar force had begun over the jurisdiction issue.

Declaring the incident really unfortunate, he said had the police engaged the administration earlier for the arrest, it would’ve helped them.

The official also wondered why the police took an armored personnel carrier to the place.

He said the administration had been put the suspected auto-thief in its lockup.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2018