LAKKI MARWAT: JUI-F activists and residents staged a protest here on Friday against the killing of former nazim Gul Zarin and another party activist and closed the Peshawar-Karachi Highway.

Bullet-riddled bodies of the JUI-F workers were found dumped near Kherukhel on Thursday night. A meeting, chaired by JUI-F district chief and former MNA Maulana Muhammad Anwar, decided that after offering funeral prayers of slain workers at Tajazai Chowk, party workers along with residents would close the Indus Highway to traffc in protest on Friday morning.

They gathered at Tajazai Chowk, placed the bodies on the Indus Highway and closed it along with Bannu-Mianwali Road.

JUI-F central emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s son Maulana Asjad Mehmood and other party leaders spoke on the occasion.

Later, party workers blocked the Lakki-Darra Tang section of Bannu-Mianwali Road connecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Punjab and Islamabad via the CPEC route and the Manjiwala Link Road, causing long queues of vehicles on both sides. The protesters also offered Jumma prayers on the road.

Speakers condemned the killing of party activists and said such incidents proved that law-enforcement agencies had badly failed to maintain law and order and protect citizens’ lives and property.

Maulana Mehmood said that the party leadership presented their charter of demand to the local administration and police. He also demanded the release of all those arrested on suspicion of having links with terrorists.

A government team led by Deputy Commissioner Hameedullah Khan and District Police Officer Nazir Khan engaged the protesters’ representatives in negotiations to convince them to end their agitation and open the roads.

Later, Bannu commissioner Khalid Mahmood and Regional Police Officer Rab Nawaz also joined negotiations. After the government team promised resolution of the protesters’ issues. Tthe mob later opened the roads and dispersed.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2026