BAJAUR: A jirga of elders and political leaders held here on Wednesday called for an inquiry into the Monday’s explosion in Mamond tehsil, which claimed lives of seven police personnel and injured several others.

A police vehicle was targeted in Billoot area with an improvised explosive device. The policemen were going to perform security duty for polio campaign.

The participants expressed heartfelt sympathies with the victims’ families, offered Fateha for the departed souls and early recovery of the injured.

Former provincial governor Eng Shaukatullah Khan, former provincial minister Anwarzeb Khan, Khar tehsil council chairman Haji Said Badshah, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Sayed Akhunzada Chattan, ANP district president Gul Afzal Khan, Maulana Waheed Gul of JI, ANP election nominee Maulana Khan Zeb, Bajaur Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Haji Lali Shah and Bajaur Youth Jirga chairman Wajid Ali Shah were among those addressed the jirga held in Khar.

The speakers noted that the Monday’s attack proved that law and order situation in the region was precarious. Some speakers said they had been demanding result-oriented steps for bringing an end to such attacks since the bombing of a JUI-F gathering on July 30, 2023, which had killed 64 people and injured 100 others.

However, they regretted no tangible steps were taken to improve law and order in Bajaur.

The speakers called for tracing those behind bomb blasts.

The participants pledged to stand by the security forces, the district administration and the police for establishing long-lasting peace in the district.

The speakers also urged the provincial government to conduct a probe into the Monday’s attack to bring the perpetrators to justice.

They said heads must be rolled for ordering the transportation of dozens of policemen in the same vehicle despite knowing the precarious law and order situation in the area.

The speakers also demanded the government to provide the facilities and incentives to the local police promised when the former Fata was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Habibullah, a police official, while addressing the jirga, claimed that about 1,200 policemen used their own rifles during duty as they had no official guns.

He claimed the policemen killed and wounded in the Monday’s blast too had their own rifles.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2024