Barricading Peshawar: Bara, Jamrud Road blocked to prevent tribesmen’s entry

Funeral prayers offered for Bara victims.

PESHAWAR: After forcefully dispersing protesters a day earlier, law enforcement agencies took stricter measures on Friday and blocked roads linking Khyber Agency to Peshawar to prevent tribesmen from entering the provincial capital.

The police placed containers on Jamrud Road near Karkhano Market at around 3am on Friday and blocked all vehicular traffic. Roads entering Hayatabad from Khyber Agency were also closed and barbed wire was placed. “You cannot even enter the city on foot,” a police official said.

The roads were blocked because the administration feared large numbers of tribesmen would swarm in and protest outside the Governor House and the provincial assembly as they had been doing for the past three days, the police official said. “Tribesmen had already decided to offer funeral prayers of the 18 slain people in Hayatabad and we feared they might create law and order problems,” he added.

Strict security measures were taken for the protection of the Governor House and provincial assembly buildings and the road leading to the buildings were also blocked.

Eighteen people, including a woman and two children, were killed in Bara, Khyber Agency. Tribesmen have accused security forces for the killings. The relatives alleged that the slain were innocent and had nothing to do with militants.

Sitting outside the Governor House with bodies, the protesters were disbursed by the police late on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the police had also taken 16 dead bodies into custody and had resorted to tear gas shelling to disburse protesters.

Prayers in absentia

Funeral prayers for the victims were held in absentia in Bagh-e-Naran, Hayatabad on Friday.

Former MNA Sahibzada Haroon Rashid offered the prayers, which were attended by a number of tribesmen from Khyber Agency. Police personnel were deployed around the area to prevent any security problems.

Talking to reporters after the prayers, Rashid said families of the deceased tribesmen had the right to protest peacefully like they had done in Quetta. However in Peshawar, protesters were baton-charged and forced to disperse.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2013.