PESHAWAR, Nov 17: The elders of Regi Lalma allowed the police to set up its post in a so-called no-go area in the city’s outskirt near Khyber Agency on Sunday.
The elders in a Jirga held in the Regi village also surrendered 26 persons wanted by the police and handed over a big quantity of weapons, what the police claimed, recovered from these proclaimed offenders.
Sources told Dawn that Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah had directed the city police to launch an operation against the outlaws in Regi Lalma, frontier region Peshawar and frontier region Bannu after receiving information about the presence of outlaws in these areas.
But the city police in an attempt to eschew the operation staged the surrender programme as in the past they not only failed to eliminate outlaws from the area but also suffered humiliation, particularly in 1998, the sources claimed.
Those who surrendered were wanted by the police in minor offences like public tranquillity, aerial firing and power pilferage.
“Yes, they are accused of minor crimes. All those wanted by the police in murder cases escaped as there were strong rumours that police were about to launch an operation in the area,” said Maulana Saeed Jan — a prayer-leader of the main village mosque.
The Maulana who played a major role in the convening of the Jirga and surrendering of 26 locals, said that the 50,000 Regi inhabitants were peace-loving and fed up with more than 130-year-old confrontation with the Orakzai family over a piece of land.
Those arrested included Khawas Khan, Toru, Aziz, Daulat, Saadat, Alim Sher, Mohammad Ali, Khurshed, Raham Sher, Javed, Azizullah, Amanullah, Hayat Khan, Gulab Sher, Mehtab, Dedar, Shifaat, Mohammad Shafi, Jan and Gharib Gul.
The seized weapons included two rockets, three pistols, 15 Kalashnikovs, two rifles, one double-barrel gun, one LMG and 85 rounds of anti-aircraft gun.
Addressing the Jirga, chief of Capital City Police Khursheed Alam Khan said that some of the residents had put the whole area in danger as they provided protection to the criminals.
He said surrendering of the proclaimed offenders to police was made possible because of the Jirga. He also warned other proclaimed offenders who were still at large, to surrender and promised that justice would be done to them.
The land dispute between the Orakzai family and the Regi people had claimed more than 20 lives, he said, and added that efforts were on to held a Jirga between the two parties to end the dispute.
Khurshed Alam Khan told the elders of other areas to follow the Regi Jirga decision and surrender the POs as the police did not want bloodshed in the anti-outlaws operation.
To a query, the DIG said that killers of Orakzai clan chief Baba Khan would be arrested shortly.
Later, he laid the foundation-stone of the police checkpoint near the village.
The Regi villagers complained that the police always supported the Orakzai family during the land dispute.
They said that whenever a member of Orakzai family was killed, senior police officials and even the governor attended the funeral. But when any of their villagers was murdered allegedly by the Orakzai family over the land dispute, none of the government official expressed even a single word of grief.
“If Musarrat — who was awarded death sentence over the killing of former IGP NWFP Yousaf Orakzai — is pardoned by the Orakzai family, talks on land dispute can be initiated,” they said.
They also claimed that the four persons nominated in the FIR in Baba Khan murder case including Ayaz, Nasim, Hashmat Khalil and Mukhtar Khalil were innocent and demanded of the government to form an independent committee to inquire into the case before taking any action against the accused.