Peshawar bus attack: Kalakhel tribe urges inquiry into school bus ambush
Elders say it’s the third time the tribe has been targeted.
PESHAWAR:
Seeking justice for the September 13 school bus attack reportedly carried out by Taliban insurgents, elders of the Kalakhel tribe have demanded that the government hold a judicial inquiry into the matter.
The tribal elders, speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, warned that they would be forced to protest if the authorities did not meet their demands within a week.
The attackers had opened fire on a school bus killing five people including four children and injuring more than a dozen earlier this month. The bus was carrying pupils back to the Kalakhel village on the outskirts of Peshawar from their school in the Zangli locality of Badabher.
The elders, including Haji Awal Din, Haji Jan Ahmed and Dr Amir Zaman told reporters that this was the third attack on their tribe in the Mattani area of Peshawar. Earlier, two blasts had targeted public transport vehicles in the same area, killing around 10 people and injuring a dozen others. They added that a third explosive device was defused just in time, after locals spotted it.
The tribal leaders insisted that the Khalakel people do not run an anti-Taliban laskhar as many other tribes in the province do. In fact, they said, they merely run a peace committee to deal with issues concerned with Frontier Crimes Regulations.
Negligence of duty
In addition to pointing out that they were a baseless target for violence, the tribal elders regretted that the families of those killed in the attacks had not been compensated as had the loved ones of victims attacked in other incidents throughout the province.
They also criticised the police, saying that right before the attack, the militants had blocked the roads for 20 minutes and in spite of this, police had not reached the scene of attack in time.
A possible motive
Zaman told The Express Tribune that the tribe had not received any kind of threat from militants and had no clue as to who was behind the attacks.
However, in a contradictory statement, he confirmed that earlier, security forces had closed down coalmines in the area to force the villagers to raise a peace force against militants.
Kalakhel shares borders with Darra Adamkhel and other tribal regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.
Seeking justice for the September 13 school bus attack reportedly carried out by Taliban insurgents, elders of the Kalakhel tribe have demanded that the government hold a judicial inquiry into the matter.
The tribal elders, speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, warned that they would be forced to protest if the authorities did not meet their demands within a week.
The attackers had opened fire on a school bus killing five people including four children and injuring more than a dozen earlier this month. The bus was carrying pupils back to the Kalakhel village on the outskirts of Peshawar from their school in the Zangli locality of Badabher.
The elders, including Haji Awal Din, Haji Jan Ahmed and Dr Amir Zaman told reporters that this was the third attack on their tribe in the Mattani area of Peshawar. Earlier, two blasts had targeted public transport vehicles in the same area, killing around 10 people and injuring a dozen others. They added that a third explosive device was defused just in time, after locals spotted it.
The tribal leaders insisted that the Khalakel people do not run an anti-Taliban laskhar as many other tribes in the province do. In fact, they said, they merely run a peace committee to deal with issues concerned with Frontier Crimes Regulations.
Negligence of duty
In addition to pointing out that they were a baseless target for violence, the tribal elders regretted that the families of those killed in the attacks had not been compensated as had the loved ones of victims attacked in other incidents throughout the province.
They also criticised the police, saying that right before the attack, the militants had blocked the roads for 20 minutes and in spite of this, police had not reached the scene of attack in time.
A possible motive
Zaman told The Express Tribune that the tribe had not received any kind of threat from militants and had no clue as to who was behind the attacks.
However, in a contradictory statement, he confirmed that earlier, security forces had closed down coalmines in the area to force the villagers to raise a peace force against militants.
Kalakhel shares borders with Darra Adamkhel and other tribal regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.