PESHAWAR, Sept 20: The residents of Pishtakhara and elders of Khalil tribe decided on Friday to postpone their protest movement against the killing of union council Nazim Fayyaz Khalil till the outcome of the pre-arrest bail petitions of the two senior police officials charged with the killing.

The decision was taken in a meeting of a 47-member jirga of Pishtakhara village and Khalil tribe, led by former NWFP chief minister Arbab Mohammad Jehangir Khan, with provincial Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah at the Governor’s House, here late Thursday.

The police officials — Cantt circle Assistant Superintendent of Police Dar Ali Khattak and SHO Shakirullah Bangash — were allowed interim pre-arrest bail by the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Saleem Khan, on Thursday. The court will now take up their case on Oct 3 for deciding whether to confirm their bail before arrest or to turn down their plea.

The jirga apprised the governor of their grievances about the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) authorities and the city police, which, it said, were responsible for the gory incident. District Peshawar Nazim Azam Afridi was also present on the occasion, sources in the jirga told Dawn on Friday.

Arbab Jehangir said loadshedding was the major cause of the incident and the people were compelled to come on the streets and stage protest demonstration against the Wapda authorities.

Expressing grief and sorrow over the unfortunate incident, the governor said the government had already constituted a judicial commission to probe into the incident and would take appropriate steps in the light of the commission’s report. He informed the jirga that he had also ordered the Wapda authorities to end the unscheduled loadshedding in the area.

The governor said if the residents wanted to remove Pishtakhara police station from the present location, the government would shift it to some other locality.

But the jirga, while appreciating the governor’s offer, rejected the offer, and said: “We want punishment to the accused police officers as we have no grudge against the police station.”

Despite Friday morning announcements from Pishtakhara village mosques about the postponement of protest movement, the residents thronged the house of Khalil with arms and sought permission form the elders to stage a protest rally after Friday prayer. But the elders calmed them down and asked the residents to wait till Oct 3.