ISLAMABAD: Talks between the provincial government of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and local tribesmen protesting the killing of four young men in the province’s Bannu district were successful on Monday, with a protest leader announcing that the demonstrations were being called off.
On Sunday, thousands of protesters broke through a police blockade as they tried to march on the city of Bannu and then onwards to Islamabad to demand a government probe into the deaths of four young men who they allege were tortured and killed by security forces.
Police fired tear gas in an attempt to keep them from entering the city of Bannu, which lies on the way to Islamabad, on Sunday evening.
The protesters were carrying the bodies of the four young men, aged between 15 and 20, found in a shallow grave on March 21 in the town of Jani Khel, outside Bannu.
On Monday, Lateef Wazir, a prominent organizer and active member of the protest, “said protesters would be returning to Jani Khel where the funeral of the slain boys will be held,” Pakistan’s Dawn reported.
“KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan personally accepted the settlement and the demands of the protesters,” government spokesperson Kamran Bangash wrote on Twitter after the negotiations with protest leaders.
علی الصبح 4:10 پرجانی خیل جرگہ کےساتھ کامیاب مذاکرات ہوئے۔تصفیہ کو وزیراعلی خیبرپختونخوانے بذات خود منظورکرتےہوئے تمام مطالبات تسلیم کئے۔ کابینہ ممبران سمیت جرگہ ثالثین بھی موجود۔دھرناختم ہوااورتمام شرکاءکوواپس جانےکی ہدایات جاری کردی گئیں۔باقی تفصیلات پریس کانفرنس میں دی جائینگی pic.twitter.com/zuEVYOVein
— Kamran Bangash (@kamrankbangash) March 28, 2021
Relatives of the dead, alleging they died during interrogation by security forces, held a sit-in in Jani Khel for nearly a week, refusing to bury the bodies until an investigation was opened against an army officer they said was responsible.
A Pakistani military and central government have not commented publicly on the case.
Officials of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, including Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, traveled to Bannu on Sunday to meet with protesters.
“This incident is a challenge for my government and law enforcement agencies,” Khan said in a statement, adding those responsible for the deaths will be held accountable.
The protesters said that after their demands for an inquiry went unheard they decided to march to Islamabad — 300 km (190 miles) away — and local police tried to stop them by placing barricades in Bannu.
The four dead boys had been missing for several weeks, according to their relatives. Relatives said their bodies bore signs of torture when they were found.
Protests were also held in the port city of Karachi on Sunday.
The town of Jani Khel is part of the former semi-autonomous tribal areas, a region along the Afghanistan border that served as a base for the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other militant groups until a series of Pakistani military offensives drove them out.
