KOHAT, July 16: The illegal raid and capture of a man from Ghulam Banda area of Kohat district for his alleged links with militants by a tribal laskhar of Frontier Region has raised serious questions of jurisdiction among the official circles here.
The act was termed violation of the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case of missing persons, in which the government agencies had been asked to pick up people after concrete evidence against them and proper filing of a legal case.
The tribal lashkar from FR Kohat on Saturday picked up a man for his alleged connections with militants from Ghulam Banda village, situated on main Rawalpindi road, without informing the police.
Local independent and official sources told Dawn that an armed lashkar of Arakhel area of Frontier Region raided the village and took away Abdur Razzaq, 27.
Investigations revealed that the local tribesmen accused Razzaq of having links with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and involvement in attacks on passenger vehicles, which claimed four lives in Jawaki area last week.
Following the incident, the elders of Ghulam Banda staged a protest while the the Bilitang police SHO said that a tribal lashkar was not allowed to raid a house in settled area and kidnap a man.
The SHO told the protesters that according to a Supreme Court verdict nobody could be taken away without registration of case against him. Moreover, the tribesmen are not allowed in any case to take any kind of action within the boundaries of the settled district.
However, the protesters expressed hesitation and did not register a case after learning that some uniformed officials also accompanied the lashkar.
Sources requesting anonymity said that the military intervened after the lashkar took away the accused and now Razzak was in the custody of army officers for interrogation.
The sources said that when the people of Ghulam Banda started agitation the members of the tribal lashkar conveyed to the police that the man had been handed over to army.
The police officials said that the army should have acted alone if the man was really wanted.
When this correspondent contacted the office of the assistant political agent of the FR Kohat it expressed ignorance about any such case.
BOY KILLED: A minor boy was crushed to death by a Rawalpindi-bound train in Togh Bala area here on Saturday.
Riaz Shaheed police station staff said that the Yasir, 4, resident of Togh Bala was crossing the railway track when the train hit him to death.
The police have registered the case.
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