LOWER DIR: The people of Lower Dir, including traders, civil society and political parties’ activists, staged a protest demonstration against the murder of a two-year-old girl and demanded immediate arrest of the culprit[s] as the police registered a case against unknown persons and arrested 10 suspects on Wednesday.

The protesters set a three-day deadline for arrest of the culprit[s], failing which, they would block the main Chakdara-Timergarah Road.

The Anjuman-i-Tajaran Chakdara, Adenzai Qaumi Jirga, civil society and political activists staged a joint protest rally against the girl’s killing. Hundreds of protesters carrying banners and placards marched on the main University Road, chanting slogans. The protesters also blocked the road for some time.

Traders’ body president Khwaja Faizul Ghafoor, Syed Sultanat Yar of JI, Hussain Shah Yousafzai and Wasil Khan of ANP, Aman Khan of PPP, Javed Iqbal and others condemned the inhuman act. They demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief to ensure arrest of the killer[s] at the earliest. The speakers said the culprits in such cases should be executed publicly.

President of Chakdara bar association Attaullah Advocate announced that no lawyer would appear in court for defending the culprit[s].

Meanwhile, DSP Ijaz Khan told Dawn that an FIR had been registered against unknown persons at Chakdara police station on the complaint of Mujahid Shah, father of the slain child.

He said that 10 suspects had been arrested so far from Sharab Kohi locality of Dara in Adenzai tehsil, where the girl’s body was found. The detained persons included family members, relatives and neighbours of the family which had invited mother of the ill-fated girl for attending an engagement ceremony of a relative some six days ago.

He said that the body had been sent to the Khyber Medical University for DNA testing.

Body of the child carrying torture marks was recovered near a hill on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020