Locals Call For Judicial Inquiry Into Killing Of Five Men In Hayatabad Operation

Locals Call For Judicial Inquiry Into Killing Of Five Men In Hayatabad Operation
A group of Afridi tribe elders from the Khyber district on Friday claimed that the killing of five men in Hayatabad operation was a 'fake encounter' and demanded judicial inquiry into the matter, Dawn News reported.

The tribe members said that if their demands were not met, they would 'announce an agitation plan against the killings' and the rulers would be responsible for what happens afterwards.

The elders, led by nationalist Rahim Shah Afridi, said the above during a press conference at Peshawar Press Club. They said that they were not ready to accept police's version and the five men residing in the house had 'nothing to do with terrorism'.

Jalil Afridi, a cousin of Amjad Afridi who was among the 5 men killed, said that Amjad had recently returned from abroad to appear in a court case regarding his reinstatement in food department.

Tribe elders Aftab Shinwari and Ajmal Afridi said they were 'shocked' that the police had linked members of the tribe with terrorism.

Rahim claimed that the bodies were removed from the debris in a haste, adding that 'such steps were taken in a baffling situation just to hide the weakness of the police in the operation'.

Bara-based journalist Qazi Fazalullah told Naya Daur that the journalists of Khyber district in general and tehseel Bara in particular faced pressure on the matter of operation in Peshawar because most of those killed belonged to tehseel Bara.

He claimed that the journalists were being harassed, pressurized and warned against uploading anything related to the matter on Facebook and other social media sites.

Fazalullah said that police misinformed the armed forces claiming that the 5 people in the house were terrorists. He said one of the individuals present inside the 3-Marla house was owner of a beauty parlour.

He said that the ‘operation’ could have been successfully completed by a single policeman since there was no evidence of firing from inside the house.

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