CHARSADDA: The killing of three brothers allegedly in the hujra of a landlord over a land dispute sparked protest in Umarzai area here on Sunday.

Police said that Kashif, Sajjad and Shabir were shot dead in the hujra of Nadar Khan in Ali Jan Kallay. The relatives of the slain persons blocked road for more than three hours to protest the incident and demand action against the killers.

Najmul Hudda, the mother of deceased brothers, registered FIR in Umarzai police station against Nadar Khan, Nasar Jamal and Pir Mohammad. She told police that Pir Mohammad came to their house on Sunday morning and asked her sons Kashif, Sajjad and Shabir that Nadar Khan called them to his hujra for discussing some matter.

She said when her son didn’t return after some time, she herself went to the hujra where she saw that the accused persons opened firing on them, killing all the three on the spot. Later, Nadar Khan, Nasar Jamal and Pir Mohammad managed to escape, she added.

According to police, the reason of the incident was a land dispute. The residents of the area said that the deceased had purchased land from the influential landlords and paid Rs3 million to them. They alleged that the accused killed them to grab their land.

Later, the relatives of deceased persons and villagers placed the bodies at Umarzai Chowk, blocking Charsadda-Peshawar and Islamabad link roads for more than three hours.

They were demanding arrest of the killers. They said that the landlords were influential people and their several family members were police officers. They alleged that police were not taking action against them.

The mother, sisters and wives of the deceased demanded the chief justice to take suo moto notice of the incident. They also demanded of prime minister and chief minister to intervene and bring the killers to justice. They said that all the bread earners of the family were killed.

Police recovered the weapons used in the incident from the hujra.

Later, the deceased were laid to rest in their ancestral graveyard amid moving scenes. Thousands of local people attended the burial.

DPO Irfanullah Khan also dashed to the site of incident and assured the bereaved family that the accused would be arrested soon. He ordered formation of special team to investigate the case.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2019