KHYBER: Family members of the two men, who were mysteriously killed in police custody in Jamrud, have pardoned the Khyber police in accordance with the tribal tradition of nanawatay.
Family sources of Eshfaq Afridi and Hidayat Khan, both residents of Mandatho Kuthi in Jamrud, said in a video message that they had accepted the police’s apology and expression of regret over what they described as the extrajudicial killing of the two arrested young men. They said the decision followed the intervention of several local influential figures including two former MPAs and tribal elders.
They said that the tribal customs and traditions allowed the relatives of the aggrieved party to accept nanawatay (asking for forgiveness by the guilty) when the matter was settled by the local influential persons in accordance with the time-tested tribal customs and traditions.
Though there was no mention of any monetary compensation, as is customary in such settlements, sources in Jamrud said the aggrieved families had received an “adequate” amount from the police. Khyber police remained tight-lipped about the matter and declined to disclose any details of the alleged “deal”, saying only that the families of the two deceased young men had pardoned the police.
Both Eshfaq Afridi and Hidayat Khan were arrested by the police on Sept 27 after police exchanged fire with smugglers in Sher Brij locality of Malagori when the latter were trying to shift some non-customs paid vehicles to bordering Mohmand district.
During the exchange of firing, Malagori SHO Riaz Afridi sustained critical injuries and later died of the bullet wounds in a hospital.
Police later in the evening said that their party came under intense firing when they took Eshfaq Afridi and Hidayat Khan for some necessary investigations to the spot of the incident where SHO Riaz Afridi was targeted.
They said both men, who were in custody, were killed when unidentified armed men opened fire on them before fleeing the scene.
Residents of Jamrud staged a protest demonstration on Sept 28 under the auspices of the Zwan Kukikhel Organisation at Bab-i-Khyber, demanding a judicial inquiry into what they alleged was the extrajudicial killing of two suspects in police custody.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who was elected an MPA from Jamrud, ordered the suspension of Khyber district police officer Waqar Ahmad after a delegation of Jamrud elders and local parliamentarians met him on Sept 28. He also ordered a departmental inquiry into the deaths of the two men in custody.
The Saturday ‘deal’ between the police and relatives of the two deceased persons attracted the wrath of the local residents with most of them accusing the Khyber police of acting beyond their legitimate authority.
In their separate social media reactions, they said that the Saturday deal vindicated their earlier stance of extra judicial killing of two young innocent men while the actual killer of the SHO Riaz Afridi was still at large.
Demanding the arrest and exemplary punishment to the killer of SHO Riaz Afridi, they warned that residents of Jamrud would never allow the suspended DPO to be reinstated in Khyber.
Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2026
