Protest held to show solidarity with Bannu sit-in

A large number of Pashtun political and civil society activists in Karachi gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday to show solidarity with the ongoing protest sit-in against the brutal killings of four teenage boys in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Bannu district.

They condemned the incident and said it had caused insecurity among the residents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They demanded immediate arrest of the killers of the four teenagers. They also said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government in the Center and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had failed to protect the lives of the citizens.

They said that for more than a week, Janikhel tribesmen in Bannu had placed the bodies of the boys in front of the local police station to protest their brutal murders. “But the government did not send any higher official to listen to their grievances. When they announced their march towards Islamabad, the government has become active in negotiating with the elders,” said Abbas Wazir, one of the organisers of the protest in Karachi.

Despite the presence of law enforcement agencies and operations against miscreants and terrorists in the region, tribal people were receiving bodies of their near and dear ones every other day, they said. Leaders and supporters of other Pashtun ethnic parties, including the Awami National Party, also attended the protest outside the KPC.