MANSEHRA, Jan 4: In what may be described as a sequel to last year’s controversy over a video clip showing men and women clapping and dancing at a wedding in Kohistan district, three brothers of a man who had broken the news about the alleged murder of the women have been killed by members of the women’s tribe in Palas area.

The enmity between Salakhel and Suramkhel tribes started on May 29 last year when Mohammad Afzal of Salakhel alleged that the four women shown clapping in the video were killed after they had been declared perverted by a jirga of local clerics headed by one Maulvi Javed.

“Yes, three brothers of Mohammad Afzal, who broke the news of the killing of four women, were shot dead and another man was injured in the attack,” Akbar Ali, senior superintendent of police in Kohistan, said on Friday.

He said a police party sent to Palas area had come back and confirmed the killing of Shah Faisal, Rafiullah and Sherwali. Bin Yamin, who was injured in the attack, is said to be related to them.

The bodies were handed over to relatives after post-mortem at the Rural Health Centre in Puttan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain declined to comment when asked about the incident at a press conference. He said the local administrator was investigating the matter and he would be in a position to comment on it only after receiving the report of the inquiry.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken notice last year of reports about the alleged killing of the women after a public outcry and constituted a high-level inquiry commission headed by senior additional district and sessions judge Ms Munira Abbasi.

Members of the commission met the women shown in the video on June 16 and declared that they were alive. Subsequently, the case was disposed of on June 20 last year.

SSP Ali said the aggrieved party had lodged an FIR against Awal Khan, Shamsuddeen, Maulvi Javed, Maulvi Noorul Haq and eight others of the Suramkhel tribe.

The two men shown dancing in the video, Bin Yasir and Gul Nazir who had been released from jail a couple of weeks earlier, and their brother Mohammad Afzal were not in the area at the time of the attack, according to police.

Local people told reporters that the enmity would not end unless the two men shown in the video and their brother were killed.

Palas police have started an investigation into the incident and are conducting raids to arrest the killers.