LOWER DIR: A retired schoolteacher was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Bagh Dushkhel village in Talash area on Wednesday evening, prompting his family to give police 72 hours to arrest the suspects.

According to the family, Muhammad Shireen was returning home after offering Maghrib prayers at a mosque when armed men, who were reportedly waiting for him, opened fire. He died on the spot, while the assailants fled.

Police registered an FIR against unidentified suspects on the complaint of the deceased’s brother, Muhammad Fazil and cousins Amjad and Ilyas.

The deceased’s nephews, Khurshid Alam and Asim Rashid, along with other relatives, told reporters on Thursday that Shireen had retired from government service as a schoolteacher.

The family said unidentified men had also killed the deceased’s nephew, Siddiqullah, and his wife on December 24, 2019, alleging that those involved in the double murder had yet to be brought to justice.

They feared that the latest killing might have been prevented had the perpetrators of the earlier incident been arrested and punished in time.

The family appealed to the Lower Dir district police officer (DPO), the Malakand deputy inspector general of police (DIG) and the provincial government to ensure immediate arrest of the suspects involved in Shireen’s murder and bring them to justice.

They warned that if the suspects were not arrested within 72 hours, they would stage a protest outside the offices of the DPO and the deputy commissioner in Lower Dir.

Meanwhile, Talash police claimed to have arrested a suspect, Waris Khan, son of Syed Ahmad Khan, along with the alleged murder weapon within two hours of the killing in Bagh Dushkhel.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026