SHANGLA: The man, who had brought the Kohistan video scandal of 2012, to the media and later to the court, has demanded of the law enforcement agencies to provide him security as his rivals were threatening to kill him.

Talking to mediapersons in Bisham on Sunday, Afzal Kohistani said during the last court hearing he was scared as his rivals had informed their group about his arrival at the civil court in Kolai Pallas Kohistan.

“After the court convicted the accused for killing five women seen in the video on the order of a jirga, my life is under threat and I am seeking security,” he said.

He alleged that recently a jirga held in Pallas had planned to kill him wherever he was spotted.

“They think that I have defamed the honour of the people of Kohistan, and killing me is their target, but I will continue the fight against the so-called culture in which animals are more valuable than human beings,” said Mr Kohistani, whose three brothers were also killed after the incident.

“I have submitted several applications to the Hazara division’s regional police officer for my security, especially when I visit Kohistan and Bisham for court hearings because I as well as my family are receiving life threats by those angered by the court decision,” he said. He said if anything happened to him the responsibility would be on the Hazara police.

“I left Kohistan in 2012 after the case surfaced due to life threats, but my younger brothers who were seen dancing in the video cannot come out of their house for fear of being killed,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2019