KURRAM: The main road to Kurram remained blocked on Sunday as protesters staged a sit-in and placed the body of the man, who was killed in mob violence on Saturday, on the road to demand arrest of killers.

Zeenat Ali was killed by mob near Sadda when two brothers in Bazikhel area were killed, reportedly in a family feud on Saturday.

The family members of the two brothers had brought the bodies to the road in Sadda from upper Kurram, blocking it.

The crowd soon turned into a mob and in the ensuing violence Zeenat Ali was pulled down from a vehicle proceeding to Parachinar. He ran to take shelter in an FC checkpost near Peer Qayyum village but was lynched by the mob.

Elders warn people against turning personal feuds into sectarian violence

Ali was a retired Subedar of Frontier Corps. On hearing that her son had been killed, his mother had a heart attack and died on Sunday morning.

Even though the road stayed closed, Ali was later buried after the local people decided to mourn the death and keep the local markets closed for the day.

As thousands of people gathered around Ali’s body, demanding arrest of his killers, tribal elders said that elements in the district were trying to give the killing of the three people a sectarian hue.

According to reports, hundreds of people of Kurram have stranded in Peshawar and other areas due to closure of the main highway.

“They are taking the law in their hands to give deaths due to family feuds and mob lynching an alarming angle. It is tragic that innocent people were killed but to give tribal enmity a sectarian hue is very disturbing,” said Haji Sardar Hussain, an elder of Turi-Bangash tribe.

Haji Abid Hussain, another elder, said that the killing and blocking of the road was against the 2011 Murree Agreement where local tribes had agreed that the road would not be closed to traffic under any circumstances.

The agreement was inked after sectarian violence in Kurram that lasted for four years from 2007 to 2011. During that time, upper Kurram remained cut off from the rest of the country and people had to travel through routes in the neighbouring Afghanistan to go out of the area.

On the occasion, DPO Mohammad Quraish Khan told journalists that local administration would do its level best to bring an end to such incidents.

“We would do all what is in our power to serve the innocents and make sure they get justice and that the rule of law and order is upheld,” he said.

The DPO said that there was a justice system in place in the district with police and the courts and criminals stood no chance to escape. “We will register an FIR against the killers today,” he added.

Abdul Khaliq Pathan, a young leader of Ahle Sunnat Wajumat, said that it was sad that innocent people were killed in the violence.

“We need to bridle our passions in times of trouble and stay sane so that peace in the region is not disturbed again,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2020