- author, Azizullah Khan, Muhammad Zubair Khan
- position, BBC Urdu
After the ongoing protest by the policemen in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has entered the fourth day, the policemen have also started a series of protests in Bannu district and Bajaur district.
The police officers of these three districts are protesting against the target killing of their colleagues and the killing of armed men.
Police officers protesting in Lakki Marwat and Bajaur are demanding that ‘army be curtailed and police powers returned’ in their districts. While protesting officials in Bannu are demanding protection.
The largest protest of police personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been going on for the last four days in Lakki Marwat district and on Thursday the local business community also took part in this protest by staging a shutterdown strike.
The BBC has contacted protesting police officers in these three districts to find out what their demands are and what kind of problems they are facing.
Regarding the protest by police officers in Bannu, Bannu Police Spokesperson Bashir Ahmed said that the officers started protesting outside the police line on Thursday morning when Constable Noor Alam Khan was targeted for target killing in the limits of Dumail police station. made He said that the policemen say that the policemen are being targeted for killing every day and now this situation is unbearable.
According to the police spokesperson, the officials demand that the killers of the dead constable be arrested.
On the other hand, according to the Bajaur police, the total number of dead personnel has reached 100 after the death of a policeman in the attack on the polio team in Bajaur district yesterday, after which a protest was decided in front of the police line headquarters, Khar. . The Bajaur police demand that ‘our powers be returned and the army be restricted in the district.’
The biggest protest of police personnel is currently going on in Lakki Marwat district.
Lucky Marwat: ‘Our soldiers are being killed on a daily basis’
“The reason for our protest is the daily target killing of police personnel. Our soldiers are being killed every day. We say that the army should be confined to Lakki Marwat or they should be withdrawn from Laki Marwat. The police itself will eliminate these terrorists.’
These are the words of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Sub-Inspector Anis-ur-Rehman, who has been part of the four-day-long protest in the province’s southern district of Lakki Marwat, in which police officials are demanding the ‘withdrawal of the army’ from the district.
It should be noted that due to this protest that started after the shooting death of five police officers in Lucky Marwat by unknown armed persons during this month, the Indus Highway connecting Peshawar and the southern districts of the province with different parts of the country including Karachi. Traffic is blocked.
The policemen’s protest is also supported by the local population and shutter down strike is being held in Lakki Marwat and business centers are closed in support of the officers’ sit-in on Thursday.
Police and senior administration officials have been negotiating with the protestors, but as of Thursday morning, the talks have been inconclusive and the protesters are adamant that the sit-in will continue until their demands are met.
Speaking to the BBC, Sub-Inspector Anisur Rahman, a member of the team negotiating with the authorities on behalf of the protesting police officers in Lucky Marwat, said, “Everyone knows that the number of terrorists in Lucky Marwat is more than two hundred.” No. A large number of army is sitting in Lakki Marwat but till date no action has been taken against these terrorists.’
BBC also contacted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government and the IG Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with the Public Relations Department of the Army i.e. ISPR on this claim and accusation, but no response was received from them.
It should be noted that during the last few months, there has been an increase in attacks and abductions of police personnel in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Kalachi, including Lakki Marwat. According to the official data released in August, during the last six months, 220 personnel of law enforcement agencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been killed in various incidents, including army, police, FC personnel, while the number of injured The number is more than 300.
After Bannu, why are police officials in Lakki Marwat, including sepoys, head constables, ASIs and sub-inspectors of the rank, demanding the army’s withdrawal? The BBC tried to talk to officials involved in the protest, including senior police officers and the Pakistan Army’s public relations department, to find out the answer to this question, but before they know how things got to this point.
‘Policemen cannot leave home after evening’
‘We were in danger, we had received threats and we were alert that there were reports of suspicious people being seen in the village. My brothers followed him and shouted ‘Who are you? Stop.’ They initially gave the impression that they were local people, but as soon as my brothers lowered their Kalashnikovs, they started firing.’
Shafqatullah is the Police Station House Officer (SHO) in District Lucky Marwat. He was speaking to the BBC about the incident during which two of his brothers, who were also policemen, were shot dead by unknown armed militants just days ago.
SHO Shafqatullah’s father was also from the police department and retired as sub-inspector. Shafqatullah said that three of his ‘seven brothers have lost their lives in police service.’ One of his brothers was killed in a police encounter in 2013 and Shafqatullah joined the police in his place.
He said that ‘last few days when the presence of suspicious people was reported in our village Abakhel, my brother went ahead.’
Shafqatullah said that his brothers who were killed by armed extremists had been injured twice in the past. According to Shafqatullah himself, he has also been injured in the action against the extremists.
He says that ‘Police job for us was not a bouquet of flowers but we did not care about our lives to protect our people and our area and we fought with armed men.’
A few other police officials from Lakki Marwat, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, claimed that there are currently ‘one and a half to two hundred militants who are ten, ten and fifteen,’ within the district limits. They are hiding in the nearby forests and mountains in groups of fifteen people.’
Police officials said, ‘There is fear in Lakki Marwat and policemen cannot go out of their houses after evening, while in some areas local people keep watch in the name of peace committee.’
Addressing the participants of the police sit-in, the speakers said that they have not been able to sleep for the past few nights, children and family members keep crying that armed men will attack their homes at any time, we used to come out of our homes. They are afraid.’
What do protesting police officers want?
Sub-inspector Aneesur Rahman said to the BBC that ‘every day our soldiers are being killed and entire families are destroyed, children become orphans.’
In the context of the recent situation, he said, ‘Now we cannot bear this situation, we cannot carry the dead bodies of our men.’
‘Don’t be afraid to fight against crime, terrorism. We have fought for our people and our country before, we have made sacrifices, we can still fight but it cannot be that our hands and feet are tied.’
Why demand the return of the army in these circumstances?
Sub-inspector Anisur Rahman claimed that ‘according to the army and police officers, everyone knows that the number of terrorists in Lucky Marwat is not high at the moment.’
Sub-inspector Anisur Rehman said that “we ask that the army be restricted in Lucky Marwat or they should be taken out of Lucky Marwat, the police itself will eliminate the terrorists and restore law and order.”
“We want the target killing of the police force to end, only if our powers are restored, the police force itself will bring the terrorists to justice.”
However, despite the question, he did not explain what he meant by restoration of powers.
A few police officials, speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, also said that ‘secret agency personnel under police control should also be sent back.’ He claimed that ‘after the return of the army from the area, they can eliminate the militants in three months.’
On the other hand, Jamshed Khan, a former official of Bannu Police, who participated in the protest, said to the BBC, “This is the first drop of rain and it is hoped that the police of other nearby districts will also stand up for their rights and peace.” And the officials will join this protest.
It may be noted that a representative committee of the protesting police officers held talks with Deputy Commissioner Fahad Wazir and DPO Taimur Khan as well as Bannu RPO Imran Shahid and DPO Ziauddin Ahmed on Monday, which were inconclusive. After that, there was a round of negotiations with the higher authorities on Wednesday, but that too could not be successful.
What do top police officials say?
DPO Lakki Marwat Taimur Khan told the BBC that attacks on police personnel in Lakki Marwat have seen a spike in the killing of Maulvi Ghulam, a local commander of the banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, in an operation by the police.
According to him, ‘Mulvi Ghulam was said to be wanted by Lakki Marwat and Bannu police in cases of target killing, extortion, bomb blasts and attack on police.’
When he was asked what the police authorities are doing to prevent these attacks, he said that the police is conducting an intelligence-based operation and for this, wherever the presence of suspects is reported, they action is taken against.
The BBC contacted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Saif as well as the IG Police to find out their position on the police’s demand for the withdrawal of the army, but their response has not been forthcoming. Not received.
On the other hand, on the claims of the police personnel related to the army, the Public Relations Department of the Pakistan Army, ISPR, was contacted to know their position, but so far no response has been received from them.