MANSEHRA: Kohistan resident Bin Yaseer, who faces death decree by a local jirga over a controversial video, has demanded increased police security for him and his family.

“The death squad formed on the orders of the jirga has already killed four of my brothers over the 2011 video. Now, it wants to eliminate me and the rest of the family,” Mr Yaseer told Dawn over the phone from an undisclosed location.

Five Kohistan girls were killed by their family members in 2013 after a video went viral showing the former clap as the brother of Mr Yaseer danced in a wedding function. A jirga issued a death decree for Mr Yaseer and his brothers over the video.

Mr Yaseer said that the “death squad” had so far killed nine people, including five girls seen in the video.

He said that the district police officer of Kolai-Palas had already asked him and his family to limit their movement for their own safety.

The resident said that he had to take care of all my family members, mostly women as well as orphaned children of my four brothers, so they all needed increased police security.

He said that he and his families were so vulnerable that a panel of the Senate’s committee on Interior that was formed following the murder of his brother Afzal Kohistan as well as the commissioner and deputy inspector general of police Hazara recommended a police squad of at least 13 personnel for their protection.

Encroachments removed

The tehsil municipal administration on Friday removed illegal structures and handcarts from Mansehra city and its suburbs.

A joint team of the TMA and police carried out the anti-encroachment operation on the Abbottabad Road, Kashmir Road and Shinkiari Road and shifted the seized goods to the municipality’s warehouses.

Tehsil municipal officer Mazhar Muzaffar Awan told reporters that the TMA teams, with the help of police, were removing encroachments to ensure a smooth flow of traffic.

He said that handcart owners and street vendors were repeatedly asked to move out of congested areas, but they paid no need, so a crackdown on them was launched.

The TMO urged shopkeepers not to occupy pavements.

“We have also planned strict action against the shopkeepers, who placed goods outside their shops and in commercial centres on Abbottabad Road, Kashmir Road and Shinkiari Road,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2024