Bara tragedy: FC commandant replaced ‘over tribesmen killings’

Colonel Jawad Zia replaced by Colonel Naeem Sarwar.

PESHAWAR:

The commanding officer of the Frontier Corps (FC) of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency has reportedly been transferred, after Bara tribesmen demanded action against security forces alleged to have killed 18 tribesmen in a midnight raid on Tuesday.

Colonel Jawad Zia’s transfer orders were said to have been issued and he has been replaced by Colonel Naeem Sarwar, apparently on the demands of the protesting tribesmen.

FC officials, however, denied the transfer, saying Colonel Zia was reposted as per routine and was still serving in Khyber Agency. They added that Colonel Sarwar has taken over as the new commandant of the force in Bara.

According to details, Bara tribesmen staged a sit-in protest in front of the Governor House bringing with them 15 bodies of their loved ones. All the bodies were mutilated and were recovered from the Alam Gudar area of Bara, Khyber Agency.



Following the tribesmen’s sit-in outside the Governor House, a jirga was constituted from within the protesters, including lawyers from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas lawyers’ forum to hold negotiations with Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Barrister Masood Kausar.

However, the lawyers were excluded from the negotiations for unspecified reasons.



The jirga held talks with the governor on Friday and reached an agreement, including the lifting of the three year-long curfew in Bara, payment of compensation to the legal heirs of the victims, release of the arrested protesters, an inquiry into the killings and the transfer of Colonel Zia from Bara.

Despite the agreement, the tribesmen continued their sit-in, which led to the police firing tear gas, as well as baton charging and using water-canons to disperse them.

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