Bajaur elders demand release of ‘innocent tribesmen’

KHAR: The parents and elders of Jannat Shah and Banda villages have asked the officials of political administration and security forces to release the innocent tribesmen arrested in the wake of the explosion in Rashakai area in Khar tehsil of Bajaur Agency recently.

In a statement on Thursday, the elders including Maulana Anwarul Haq, Said Badshah, Muhammadullah, Khan Zamin, Faqir Mian, Zoraddin Mian, Waheed Gul and others said that the three personnel of the Levies force sustained minor injuries in the blast while they were on a routine patrol in Rashakai area on Tuesday last.

Following the blast, they said, the security forces and Levies personnel arrested 28 tribesmen from the two villages and elsewhere for investigation. Eight of them arrested by the Pak Army were later released but 20 youth were still languishing in jail without committing any crime.

The elders said that sniffer dogs were used in the investigation, which went towards Rashakai, not to Jannat Shah and Banda villages located at a distance of four kilometer from the blast site. "We do feel pain for the untoward incident but we assure the civil and military high-ups that our sons and family members had no role in this heinous crime," the parents said. They appealed to political administration and security forces officials to release the innocent people as their families were going through severe mental agony and hardships.