Freedom of violence?: Militants gun down three Achini residents after target escapes

Residents accuse police of letting militants cross the border in villages near Khyber Agency.

PESHAWAR:

Three people were killed and one was injured when heavily armed militants opened fire on them Tuesday night in Secretary Pull, Achini.

According to the Sarband police, the assailants were after one man who managed to escape his attackers by going inside one of the houses in the neighbourhood and subsequently escaping.

While trying to hunt him down, the militants questioned people living in houses nearby and urged them to hand him over. When that failed, the armed men opened fire at residents standing outside, leaving two men dead and two injured. The wounded were rushed to Hayatabad Medical Complex where one succumbed to his injuries.

The deceased were identified as Ajar Khan, 40, Faisal, 14, and Hayat Muhammad, 38. Mudir Khan is still hospitalised but said to be in stable condition.

A Sarband police official told The Express Tribune that the incident took place on the border of Shalober, Khyber Agency and the settled district. The attackers were militants who freely roam around on the other side of the border and frequently cross into Peshawar after nightfall, he added.

An FIR has been registered on the complaint of Mudir against unidentified assailants who managed to escape after committing the crime.

According to locals, the assailants belonged to the banned Lashkar-e-Islam, a name synonymous with ‘militants’ when referring to Khyber Agency.

People in Achini continue to blame the police, who, they say, have no writ in the area. The militants are free to enter their neighbourhoods and patrol villages adjacent to Khyber Agency. They kidnap people and demand extortion without the police intervening, said residents.

“Before Ramazan, the police and security forces conducted a door-to-door search operation, confiscating weapons and arms,” said an elder, requesting anonymity. Later, the security forces returned the weapons to the police but they never handed them back to the owners; most of the weapons were licensed and legal arms, he added.

“We protested against the operation and told the local MPA as well as the police that these actions gave even more freedom of movement to these miscreants,” said the elder. “Locals were left completely defenceless without their weapons, at the mercy of these outlaw-turned-militants.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2014.