After a week of a protest sit-in outside the Janikhel police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bannu district, local tribesmen and relatives of four teenage boys whose bullet-riddled bodies were found last week began a protest march towards Islamabad on Sunday.
The tribesmen and relatives have been protesting the brutal killing of the four boys — aged between 13 to 17 years — whose bodies were found in a field on Sunday, for the last six days. The boys had gone missing three weeks ago.
The victims were identified as Ahmadullah, Mohammad Rahim, Razamullah, and Atifullah.
On Sunday around 10am, around 10,000 people from the Janikhel area of Bannu bordering South Waziristan started a long march to Islamabad along with the bodies of the slain boys, demanding action against anti-state elements.
Police blocked the main road in Bannu and stopped the protesters from marching for several hours before they were allowed to proceed on their path.
The situation turned tense when the protesters tried to cross blockades to enter Bannu city, with police firing tear gas at them and resorting to aerial firing. In response, the protesters pelted stones at the police and managed to remove the barricades.
A video showed the protesters raising the slogans of "What do we want? Peace!", "We want justice!" and "negligent state!".
"In the start, the march was smooth and peaceful," Lateef Wazir, a resident of Janikhel participating in the march told Dawn.com, adding that upon reaching Toche Pull, they faced a blockade and resistance from the administration and police.
He alleged that police stopped the protesters forcibly and used tear gas to disperse them, saying a large number of policemen had been deployed to stop the march.
Wazir said they were protesting peacefully and demanding of the government to take action and expose the elements behind the killing of the four young boys.
"Disappointed with the provincial government, the elders of Janikhel decided to march to Islamabad and agreed to not bury the bodies till the arrest of the killers," he told Dawn.com.
After keeping the road blocked for several hours, police allowed the march to continue, according to Wazir.
On the other hand, police in Karak district took Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leader and tribal MNA Mohsin Dawar into custody to prevent him from travelling to Bannu to join and lead the march. PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen was also taken into custody in Kohat, according to PTM sources.
BDST: 1800 HRS, MAR 31, 2021
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