FC says militants conspiring to drive security forces out of Bara

Jirga will be held on Monday with agency’s PA to discuss demands.

Terrorists killed five family members of an FC soldier to avenge the deaths of their members, who died in an attack on LEA posts inside Bara on Tuesday, January 15, said a statement issued by FC spokesperson on Sunday.

The statement further said that more than a dozen militants from the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam barged into the house of Frontier Corps (FC) officer Shabbir, and gunned down his father and four brothers.

They then threw the dead bodies of the family along with bodies of their own killed, in a field to make it look like the security forces had killed them. The statement added it was an ‘orchestrated’ move by the enemies to turn residents against the security forces.

The spokesman urged locals to not fall in the terrorists’ trap because what they want is to drive the security forces out of Bara so they can continue their activities without interference.

The press release came after Bara tribesmen staged a sit-in protest in front of the Governor House on Wednesday when 18 dead bodies were recovered from Alam Gudar area in Khyber Agency on Tuesday.

The protesters alleged that all the 18 people, including one woman and two children, had been killed by security forces and demanded immediate transfer of FC commanding officer, Colonel Jawad Zia.

Besides transfer of the official, the enraged protesters also demanded an end to the military operation in the area, lifting of the three-year long curfew from Bara and monetary compensation for legal heirs of all those killed.

The demands were conveyed to K-P Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, by a 16-member jirga. The jirga reached a conclusion, however, the protesters refused to end their sit-in, upon which, police used tear gas and water-canons to disperse them.

A jirga was again held on Saturday, threatening to launch another series of protests if the government fails to halt military operation in Bara and lift curfew within a 48-hour deadline. It criticised the government for failing to fulfil their promises.

The jirga will be held again on Monday at 10am, at the house of Mutahir Zaib, a political agent of Khyber Agency, to discuss the issue further.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2013.