SWABI: The police on Wednesday registered an FIR against the unidentified personnel of the Counter-Terrorism Department in the city police station here for the killing of a former Pakistan Air Force official in a raid, following which the protesters ended their agitation, which had erupted on Tuesday.

The negotiations between the protesters and the police were held at midnight at the Amn Chowk, where the agitators had placed the body of the deceased, Nural Haq, demanding registration of FIR against the CTD personnel.

They protesters had vowed to bury the body at the main intersection of the district if the police failed to register the case.

The raid was led by CTD operations Peshawar SSP Sajjad Khan, who also remained district police officer of Swabi, and DIG Mardan division Mohammad Ali Gandapur.

A former PAF official was killed in a raid on Tuesday night, triggering protest

At the negotiations, the protesters were represented by a jirga comprising QWP, PML-N, PTI and PPP leaders.

Before the negotiations, a political leader had suggested that if the police could not register the report they would demand formation of a judicial inquiry, but the proposal had been rejected by the family of the deceased.

During the talks, SSP Sajjad agreed to register the FIR, leading to culmination of the protest.

A police official told Dawn that the FIR was registered at 2pm on Wednesday which marked the end of the protest.

Saqib Ali Khan, Haq’s brother, who performs duty in the district police force, has got the FIR registered.

He said he was sleeping in a separate room in their house when their door was knocked before dawn. When I opened the door three personnel of CTD asked about his brother, he said, adding when he opened the door to the room of Haq, the personnel opened fire, killing him on the spot.

Ali said he was also picked by the raiding team, but was later released on the intervention of Qamar Zaman, the SHO of city police station.

Soon after registration of the FIR, the body was taken to the Swabi playground for the funeral. Later, he was buried in his ancestral graveyard in the Swabi city.

A police official said: “The inclusion of injured personnel of CTD in the FIR had strengthened the claim of the officials that Haq was actually killed in an encounter as he had opened fire on seeing the raiding party.”

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that police have constituted a committee to probe the incident and submit a report to the relevant officials soon.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018