DERA GHAZI KHAN: Dozens of locals, including relatives of two alleged gangsters, who were killed in an encounter a couple of days back, on Wednesday staged a protest demonstration against police and told an inquiry team that the deceased were innocent.

The protest was staged on the arrival of an inquiry team headed by Additional IG Athar Khokar at Chak Naoabad, the native village of two alleged members of Ladi gang – Haider and Abdullah – who were killed in a police encounter.

The team was tasked with ascertaining the facts of the police encounter in which a police official and a passerby were also killed.

The inquiry team recorded statements of “eyewitness” and locals who claimed that the deceased were stopped by police during an encounter with the gangsters of Ladi gang, and were allegedly shot dead later by them (police).

They alleged that the police later declared the deceased gangsters to show their performance.

The protesters appealed to the Punjab chief minister to constitute a judicial commission to probe into the killings.

District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz assured the protesters that the inquiry would be conducted on merit and the killers would be traced and brought to book.

The DPO told Dawn that more joint efforts by the Border Military Police (BMP) and Punjab police were needed to wipe out notorious Ladi gang from the area.

Tribal area tehsil Takht Sulaiman Political Assistant Syed Musa Raza said joint efforts being made by the Punjab police and BMP would soon succeed in eliminating armed gangsters.

He claimed that Ladi gang mostly operated in the areas falling under Punjab police and did not use tribal area permanently as a their refuge.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2019