Cops continue to block Indus Highway to protest attacks

PESHAWAR: A large number of policemen continued to block the main Indus Highway on Tuesday to protest the everyday attacks on the force in the Lakki Marwat district.

The senior officials failed on Monday and Tuesday to disperse the cops who had taken to the streets against the innumerable attacks and the martyrdom of their colleagues.

The main highway was blocked for over 35 hours as many political workers, as well as locals, joined the protest by the policemen.

Thousands of passengers were stranded for hours while others took the CPEC route and other roads to travel within KP and to other provinces.

An official said the regional police officer Bannu as well as the district police officer of Lakki Marwat went to the sit-in Monday and remained there for sufficient time on Tuesday to assure the protesting cops that their grievances would be addressed. They asked the subordinates to end the protest. The protesters, however, refused to end the sit-in and continued it till Tuesday evening.

The protesting cops said many policemen were kidnapped, ambushed and their houses and families attacked in Lakki Marwat and other towns of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan division in the last few years. An increase in attacks on police has been witnessed in the last few days.

The protest started on Monday when a large number of policemen in civvies while carrying official weapons staged a protest. They were angry over the silence of government and senior officials over the frequent attacks on the force. Many cops from other districts as well as some political workers have joined them to display support.

Several 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 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.

Before Lakki’s protest, policemen held demonstrations in some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in January 2023 to register anger at the bombing of a mosque in Malik Saad Shaheed Lines in Peshawar where over 86 policemen were martyred and more than 200 were injured.

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 some of the vocal cops which was later withdrawn.