KOHAT: The police claim to have arrested three terrorists allegedly involved in killing of three Shia community members in the KDA Township and Peshawar Square here last month.

Kohat division police chief Tayyab Hafeez Cheema told a hurriedly-called press conference at the police club on Tuesday that the terrorists were paid by a foreign enemy country to cause sectarian tensions in the region. Mr Cheema said identity of the accused could not be revealed at this stage as police were trying to arrest the remaining members of the gang.

The DIG said a masked man had shot dead owner of a grocery store, Qaiser Imran, in the KDA Township on Sept 6. The deceased was a resident of Ibrahimzai area of Hangu. He said another incident of targeted killing took place on Sept 15 at the Peshawar Chowk in Kohat city, where an owner of medical store, Artza Hassan, and Syed Mir Hassan Jan of Ibrahimzai of Hangu, were shot dead by a masked man.

The police chief said similarity in both the cases was the victims were residents of Ibrahimzai area. He said a joint investigation team was constituted to investigate CCTV footage of both the incidents and collect forensic evidence from various places.

He said a member of the gang was picked on Sept 16, who disclosed the names of his other two accomplices.

On the occasion, Kohat district police officer Javed Iqbal said the accused were also involved in robberies and spreading sectarianism in parts of the country.

He said their future plan was to kill people from the Sunni community to ignite sectarianism.

SIT-IN CONTINUES: The followers of a saint continued their protest sit-in at Satar Saam area on the border of Kohat and Orakzai districts for the 12th day on Tuesday against the prolonged closure of the shrine of their spiritual leader Syed Anwar Mian.

The protesters argued that there was no logic to keep the shrine closed after return of peace to the area. The protesters demanded reopening of the shrine closed a decade ago.

They said the shrine was crumbling, and demanded they be allowed to renovate it.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2020