Protest against Peshawar crackdown: Bara students baton-charged, 18 arrested

PESHAWAR: Police on Thursday resorted to aerial firing, baton charge and teargas to disperse Bara students protesting outside Peshawar Press Club the crackdown on peaceful tribesmen, who had placed bodies of 15 people killed in their tehsil outside the Governor’s House here.

Police said 18 protesters had been arrested during the action. Several media persons covering the event, including camerapersons Siddique Bangash of Geo Television, Waqar of AVTKhyber and photojournalist Fayyaz Aziz, also sustained minor injuries after being hit by stones during the action. The people already aggrieved due to the killings of their dear ones had got infuriated when police used water canons andteargas against them for sitting outside the Governor’s House with coffins on the night between Wednesday and Thursday. Mohammad Ali told Dawn that police used water canons against those observing sit-in at around 12.30am (Thursday) but most of the people remained firm and got off their shirts but later police used excessive teargas and forced them to leave behind the bodies and escape. “We had no other option but to go to safer places because the chilly weather coupled with teargas made our lives extremely miserable,” he said while narrating the ordeal of protesters. He said the elderly were the worst affected people who were beaten up by police as they were reluctant to leave bodies of their relatives. Some other tribesmen, including Subhanullah and Akbarullah, said the people also faced great difficulties to know as to where the bodies had been kept by police. They said the political administration did not allow them to see the coffins unless a jirga of elders assured them that the bodies would not be placed on roads again for protest. Later, the people, particularly the internally displaced persons, held a rally outside Peshawar High Court where they blocked the main Courts Road for around three hours, which also disrupted vehicular traffic. Leaders of different political parties and Fata Lawyers Forum also joined them and demanded registration of FIR against those involved in the killing of 18 tribal people. Noted among the speakers were Lateef Afridi, Shah Faisal Afridi, Haroon Luqman Afridi and Khan Bahadur. The lawyers, Ijaz Mohmand, Taj Mahal Afridi, Noor Alam Khan and Ghulam Nabi, condemned the killing of the tribesmen and demanded judicial probe into the incident to award exemplary punishment to those found guilty in this respect. They also expressed sympathies with the families of dead people and IDPs. Speaking on the occasion, the tribesmen condemned police for resorting to water canons and teargas against protesters and described the action as sheer violation of basic rights of human beings. They said sit-ins were frequently observed in other parts of the country and the government accepted all the demands but the Fata people, were beaten up, disgraced and humiliated for no reasons. Heavy contingents of police remained alert on Sher Shah Soori Road, especially near press club to take action incase of any procession. Also in the day, Jamaat-i-Islami workers took out a rally on GT Road in Hashtnagri area of the provincial against police action against protesters of Bara outside Governor’s House. They warned that if the government did not stop the Bara operation, their party would continue staging rallies for the oppressed people. APP adds that the Fata additional chief secretary, law and order secretary, Peshawar commissioner, CCPO, and political agent of Khyber Agency held a meeting with the members of jirga named by the families of the dead people to reach an accord. On reaching the accord, the 18-member jirga met the provincial governor, who agreed to the demands of the jirga and declared a substantial compensation package for the families of the slain people which includes Rs400,000 for each family in addition to the standard official package and the constitution of an independent judicial commission acceptable to all sides to investigate this tragedy impartially. The finding of the reports would be incumbent on all concerned, he added. The governor also announced that a grand jirga comprising elders nominated by the afflicted people would be set up to conduct negotiations between the government and the families of the dead people from Bara. The governor directed the political agent of Khyber Agency to devise mechanisms in consultation with the jirga members, the Bara trade union and security forces for opening up of roads and shops in the areas closed due to the ongoing operation. He also ordered the release of all innocent people imprisoned by the political agent of Khyber Agency and said indiscriminate shelling would be halted after taking security forces on board. http://rtilive.pk/detail/9611 Right to Information Pakistan Live, RTI Live, Information Pakistan, RTI online Research ORganization,breaking news pakistan,current news about pakistan,current news from pakistan,current news of pakistan,current news on pakistan,current news pakistan,google news pakistan,hot news of pakistan,karachi pakistan news,latest news about pakistan,latest news from pakistan,latest news in pakistan,latest news of pakistan,latest news on pakistan,latest news pakistan,latest news pakistan urdu,latest pakistan news,live news pakistan,news about pakistan,news from pakistan,news in pakistan,news of pakistan,news on pakistan,news pakistan,news pakistan latest,pakistan current news,pakistan flood news,pakistan floods news,pakistan karachi news,pakistan latest news,pakistan latest news online,pakistan live news,pakistan new news,pakistan news,pakistan news channel,pakistan news lahore,pakistan news latest,pakistan news live,pakistan news online,pakistan news paper,pakistan news papers,pakistan news service,pakistan news today,pakistan news tv,pakistan news urdu,pakistan news english,pakistan news video,pakistan political news,pakistan top news,pakistan urdu news,pakistan english news,pakistan world news,todaynews of pakistan,rti news of pakistan,rtilive news of pakistan,top news of pakistan,urdu news pakistan,english news pakistan,urdu pakistan news,english pakistan news,world news pakistan,www pakistan urdu news,www pakistan english news,www rtilive pk news,yahoo pakistan news,action news,breaking news,business news, current news,daily news,e news,entertainment news,google news,headline news,india news,pakistan news,international news,it news,latest news,live news,lacal news,national news,new news,news,news channel,news channels,news entertainment,news for kids,news for today,news live,news of the day,news of the world,news of today,news of world,news paper,news papers,news today,news video,news weather,online news,recent news,science news,news the,today news,top news,weather news,world news,news yahoo,yahoo news,Law & justice in Pakistan, Court cases, constitutional cases, chief justice of Pakistan, Justice and court news, criminal cases, Supreme court cases in Pakistan, Judgments of Supreme Court,PESHAWAR: Police on Thursday resorted to aerial firing, baton charge and teargas to disperse Bara students protesting outside Peshawar Press Club the crackdown on peaceful tribesmen, who had placed bodies of 15 people killed in their tehsil outside the Governor’s House here.