MARDAN: The Chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority, Usman Yousaf Mubeen, handed over a cheque of Rs3 million as compensation to the family of security guard Pervez Khan, who lost his life while trying to stop a suicide bomber from entering the Nadra’s regional office in Mardan on Tuesday.

The Nadra chairman visited the house of the security guard on Wednesday.

Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, KP Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan and Inspector General of Police Nasir Durrani also visited the house of the slain guard.

They visited the Nadra office, Mardan Medical Complex and district headquarters hospitals as well to inquire after health of the injured.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had earlier announced that a job in the police department would be offered to one of the sons of the deceased.

Twenty-six people were killed and over 50 others injured in the blast.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Mardan Region) Saeed Khan Wazir said a joint investigative committee comprising the Military Intelligence, Counter-Terrorism Department and police personnel had been constituted to collect evidence, facts and figures and other relevant information about the incident.

A police official told Dawn that dozens of suspects had been arrested in raids carried out by police soon after the blast, but did not give details about them for security reasons.

The PPP has criticised the government for its failure to eliminate terrorism and protect lives and property of citizens.

PPP provincial president Senator Khanzada Khan, general secretary Mohammad Humayun Khan and information secretary Liaquat Shabab said in a joint statement that the government claim of restoration of peace had proved totally wrong after the attack on the Nadra office.

They said the provincial and federal governments had failed to initiate any major developmental scheme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and left people at the mercy of terrorists and corrupt elements.

They said over the past several years thousands of lives of innocent people had been lost and their properties were destroyed, but their heirs were not compensated adequately.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2015