LAKKI MARWAT: A jirga on Friday decided to observe a shutter down strike here on Monday against the government’s failure to secure the safe release of kidnapped workers of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission despite lapse of two weeks.

The jirga met at the Children Park in front of the Town Hall building in Lakki city and made several important decisions.

The participants included former tehsil nazim Haji Hidayatullah Khan, former tehsil naib nazim Hafiz Asif Salim Advocate, Malik Ali Sarwar Khan and Eng Latifullah Khan of ANP, Maulana Abdul Haq, Maulana Ahmad Shah Quraishi, Malik Riaz Khan and Naseer Turab of JUI-F, Dr Iqbal of PTI, Hafiz Inayatur Rehman of Aba Shaheedkhel Jirga, Waqar Khan, Misbahullah, Karim Jan Begukhel, Hamayun Marwat and relatives of the hostages.

Elders said that their repeated efforts to convince the government authorities to secure the safe release of hostages from kidnappers had failed, leaving them with no option other than to take the extreme step of closing bazaars, roads, educational institutions and government offices.

Announces strike on Monday

“We do not want to disrupt normal life but the elders, residents and family members of hostages have been left with no other option,” they said.

The elders questioned the performance of police and other law enforcement agencies and said that residents would stage a sit-in outside the District Headquarters Complex, Tajazai, on Monday.

They alleged that miscreants roamed the streets freely and law-abiding citizens and elders received no respect at the police stations.

“As people have always stood beside the police and security forces in difficult times, so the latter should expedite efforts for the safe recovery of hostages,” the elders said.

Bodies found: Unknown armed men killed two young boys, including a proclaimed offender, in Chuharkhel area of Lakki Marwat district here on Friday.

Police said the double murder occurred in the precincts of Shahbazkhel police station. They said the bodies of Shakirullah, 20, and Jawad, 17, were found dumped in a watercourse near the residence of a villager, Khan Wali.

Hanifa Bibi, mother of Shakirullah, reported to the police that her son and Jawad had left home for the guestroom of Khan Wali to attend a repast there.

She said she heard gunshots and later came to know that the bodies of Shakir and Jawad were lying in a nullah.

They said Jawad was a proclaimed offender and was wanted by police in several cases.

Separately, a man was killed when armed men believed to be bandits opened fire on a passenger bus near Masoodabad area on Manjiwala Link Road here on Thursday night.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025