LAKKI MARWAT: The elders of the Ahmadzai Wazir and Janikhel tribes have set a two-day deadline for the tribesmen to end protest and bury the slain tribal chief and warned that if that didn’t happen, they won’t offer any support for the arrest of killers and a permanent solution to lawlessness in the area.

A source told Dawn on Tuesday that some leaders of Janikhel agreed to end the agitation if the administration arranged their meeting with higher functionaries of the government in Peshawar, and the demand was accepted. However, the source said, some young protesters refused to end the sit-in and bury the deceased.

The elders of Ahmadzai Wazir tribe had gone to the town to express solidarity with the protesters, who have been protesting the killing of Malik Naseeb Khan for the last 16 days.

Meanwhile, Bannu deputy commissioner Mohammad Zubair Niazi along with district police officer Imran Shahid also visited the Janikhel area and held a meeting with tribal chiefs, urging them to end their agitation and perform burial of the slain tribal chief.

The officials told the Janikhel elders that the government had taken practical steps about maintaining peace in the area.

They asked the tribal elders to convince the protesting tribesmen to end the sit-in.

After burial of the slain tribal chief the elders and the government officials will sit together to chalk out a plan for fulfillment of protesters’ demands, they maintained.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2021