LAKKI MARWAT: Talks between a government team and elders of Janikhel tribe failed despite assurance by Provincial Minister Malik Shah Mohammad Khan about acceptance of demands of the protesting tribesmen.

The protest of Janikhel tribesmen against the killings of four teenagers continued on the fifth consecutive day and the bodies of the slain youth lay at the site of the protest.

An official told this scribe that government had accepted demands of Janikhel tribesmen.

He said that the government team headed by Provincial Transport Minister Malik Shah Mohammad Khan and comprising Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zubair Niazi, DPO Imran Shahid and army officials remained engaged in talks with the leaders of the protesters to reach an agreement.

Elders announce to take coffins of four slain boys to Islamabad

“The minister and other members of the government team have been in Janikhel for talks for the last three days,” claimed the official.

“He added that on the directives of chief minister, all demands of the protesters were accepted.

He said that the bereaved families would get Rs1 million each as compensation money while all resources would be put in place to ensure maintenance of peace in the region.

The official said that the elders were assured that government would carry out a transparent probe into the incident and the people involved in the murder of youth would be taken to task.

He said that an FIR of the incident was already registered against unidentified killers.

The government team requested the elders to end the sit-in and perform burial of the victims.

However, the elders announced to take the coffins to Islamabad on Friday to record their protest against the killings of the innocent boys.

Sources said that the elders refused to accept the government’s offer and decided to continue agitation.

The bullet-riddled bodies of the four boys aged between 13 to 17 years were found in a field on Sunday.

The victims identified as Ahmadullah, Mohammad Rahim, Razamullah and Atifullah had been missing for last three weeks.

The relatives received the bodies at district headquarters hospital in Bannu and then along with other tribesmen took them to Janikhel police station to stage a sit-in there.

Meanwhile, ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan, general secretary MPA Sardar Hussain Babak and former senator Baz Mohammad Khan; JUI-F lawmakers Mufti Abdul Shakoor and Maulana Mohammad Anwar; PML-N Bannu president Pir Kamal Shah; and political and social activists, representatives of traders and people from different walks of life visited Janikhel to express solidarity with the bereaved families.

They condemned the killing and said that the incident caused insecurity among the locals.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2021