CHARSADDA: The family members of the victims of Ali Jan Kallay incident, wherein three brothers were shot dead allegedly by landlords, have expressed dissatisfaction over the role of police so far, saying instead of providing protection to the aggrieved family a large number of police personnel have been deployed at the hujra of assailants to provide them security.

Saleh Mohammad, the maternal uncle, and Elham, the brother-in-law, of the three slain brothers have alleged that the hujra of accused Nadar Khan was turned into police post as several policemen were manning it since occurrence of the gory incident.

Talking to journalists here, they said that had the ‘killers’ not been influential, police would have seized all their households and arrest all family members. But, in this case the police force is providing security to the influential family. They said that it was not only violation of law but also injustice with the blood of the innocent deceased.

They demanded registration of FIR against the accused under 7-ATA and confiscation of their properties.

They alleged that Nadar, Nasar and Pir Mohammad managed to escape in two police vans to Charsadda interchange and then shifted to safer place. They said that according to police, Nadar fled to Malaysia while Nasar and Pir Mohammad had been fled away to Afghanistan. They added they had not shown documents of their gong abroad.

The relatives of the murdered brothers threatened to launch a protest movement against police if the accused persons were not arrested within 48 hours.

Four minor sons and four daughters, aging one to five years, of the slain brothers were also present on the occasion. Five-year-old Khkola, the daughter of deceased Sajjad, told journalists that they appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, chief justice of Pakistan and chief of army staff to help them in the legal fight against the influential assailants. They demanded public execution of the landlords.

Meanwhile, taking notice of the incident, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed IGP to arrest the killers with immediate effect.

Provincial Minister Sultan Mohammad Khan along with MPA Khalid Khan visited the aggrieved family to offer condolence on the death of three brothers.

He assured the heirs of the deceased of all out support in providing justice and protection.

Meanwhile, ANP provincial chief Aimal Wali Khan has expressed concerns over the poor performance of police, saying the entire police force failed to arrest the killers.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2019