Cops in Lakki Marwat protest frequent attacks

PESHAWAR: For the second time in less than two years, several policemen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa staged a protest, this time in Lakki Marwat, to protest the killing and kidnapping of cops in frequent attacks.

Many policemen were kidnapped and ambushed and their houses and families were attacked in Lakki Marwat and other towns of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan division in the last few years. An increase in attacks has been witnessed in the last recently.

On Monday, several policemen in civvies while carrying their official weapons staged a protest demonstration in Lakki Marwat.They were angry over the silence of government and senior officials over the frequent attacks on the force. The regional police officer of Bannu Imran Shahid told The News that he held a meeting with the protesting policemen to listen know their grievances.

Many policemen have come under attack in Lakki Marwat as well as other districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the last couple of years. Among those martyred in Lakki Marwat in the last many months included two deputy superintendents of police, Iqbal Momand and Gul Mohammad, as well as many junior officials. Many police posts, and police stations also came under attack in the last almost three years.

Policemen had held demonstrations in some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in January 2023 to protest the bombing at a mosque in Malik Saad Shaheed Lines where over 86 policemen were martyred and over 200 were injured.

Groups of policemen took to the streets in Peshawar, Mardan and some other towns then to protest the mosque attack. This was something unprecedented in a disciplined force. The protesters wanted answers to questions as to how such a massive attack happened at the well-guarded police headquarters and who was behind it.The cops were angry as no timely measures led to the martyrdom of the highest number of cops in a single incident in the history of KP.

“This protest was something unprecedented. The policemen once went on strike in Punjab over five decades back,” an official said, terming the current situation alarming. Since January last year, many cops have been vocal on social media to demand rights as well as facilities to fight terrorists and criminals. Action was also taken against a few of the vocal cops which was later withdrawn.

The policemen of the merged districts have also staged protests on a number of occasions but it was to highlight the issues related to their promotion and induction into the KP Police from Levies and Khasadar force.