Five die in firing on Tirah protesters
Five people died and 17 others sustained injuries when protesters were fired upon during a protest outside a military installation against the killing of a girl in the Tirah Vally of the Khyber district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), tribal elders stated on Sunday.
The protest ended after negotiations between tribal elders and security officials. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the shooting at the Bagh Maidan area of Tirah Valley.
Tension gripped the area after the death of a 10-year-old girl the other day. Following the incident, the victim's relatives and local citizens reached the main gate of the Brigade Headquarters this morning to protest. The protesters shouted slogans against the incident and set a dispensary on fire.
In the meanwhile, the shooting broke out in which three people died on the spot. Later two more injured succumbed to their wounds while on way to a hospital. Police sources said that 17 injured were taken to a local hospital but six of them were later shifted to Peshawar hospitals and seven to Orakzai district.
Fifteen injured were identified as Ajmal, Abdul Halim, Ayub Khan, Siraj, Jartaj, Baitullah, Aamir Hassan, Rehmanullah, Muhammad Sadiq, Nazar Muhammad and Abu Bakar — all residents of Zakhakhel — Khan Zeb and Muhammad Javed of Shlobar; and Sher Zaman, Qasim, and Saeed Khan of Malk Din Khel.
Later, the tribal elders met with security officials and presented their demands: case against those involved in the death of the girl; vacation of the occupied houses of local citizens, end to unnecessary harassment at the security check posts and financial assistance to the families of the deceased.
The security forces' agreed to Rs1.5 million compensation to the families of each deceased and Rs200,000 assistance to each injured. After a partial agreement on the demands, the protesters ended the protest, and the situation started to return to normalcy.
In Islamabad, meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the martyrdom of innocent and peaceful citizens due to the firing from Fitna al-Khawarij and directed the authorities concerned to provide immediate medical assistance to the injured.
K-P Chief Minister Gandapur also expressed deep sorrow and grief over the Tirah incident and announced financial assistance of Rs10 million for the heirs of each deceased and Rs2.5 million for each injured, according to an Express News report.
The chief minister called a Peshawar Jirga, consisting of tribal elders and public representatives so that local sentiments and concerns could be heard. He directed the district administration and the institutions to strengthen public communication and maintain order.
Gandapur said that a series of jirgas of tribal elders would start from next week at the divisional and then provincial levels. National Assembly member from the area Iqbal Afridi and K-P Assembly member Abdul Ghani Afridi condemned the incident.
(WITH INPUT FROM APP)
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