Conflicting claims: Paramilitary officer ‘guns down’ colleague, civilian

LANDI KOTAL:

Two people, including a paramilitary officer, were gunned down on Tuesday allegedly by a levy personnel following a heated argument in Landi Kotal subdivision of Khyber Agency.

At around 9:00am, a paramilitary personnel later identified as Ihsanullah signalled a car heading towards Torkham to pull up at the Darwazgai check post, said an official of the political administration, Arshid Afridi.

Ihsanullah was searching the car during a routine check when his gun ‘accidentally’ went off, killing the vehicle’s driver Samiullah and injuring khasadar personnel Muhammad Sher who was standing nearby. Muhammad Sher, however, died on the way to hospital, added Afridi.

He said the suspect was later apprehended by political administration officials. The deceased driver’s brother Latif Shinwari, however, disagrees with Afridi’s version of the incident.

Shinwari said he and his brother were pulled over and asked to let trucks and containers pass through Bypass Road before they could proceed with their journey.

“My brother told the personnel to let us go saying we had urgent work to attend to at Torkham,” Shinwari told The Express Tribune.

This, he said, led to a heated argument after which khasadar official Muhammad Sher asked Ihsan to let the vehicle proceed. However, Ihsanullah pointed the gun at Samiullah and shot him in the head. “The bullet pierced though my brother’s skull and went on to hit the khasadar official, also in the head.”

Shinwari’s brother died on the spot while the paramilitary soldier succumbed to his injuries on the way to the Agency Headquarters Hospital.

Eyewitness Mujahid Shinwari questioned: “How can you shoot someone in the head accidently? This isn’t the first such incident.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2012.