TIMERGARA, Feb 4: The Adenzai jirga that met in Gulabad on Wednesday expressed concern over the killing of innocent civilians allegedly by security forces and urged the government to initiate a judicial inquiry into the matter.

The jirga held under its chairman, former provincial minister and central general secretary of PPP (Sherpao) Bakht Baidar Khan, demanded that the government should pay compensation to victim families.

All key members of the jirga and political leaders of the area, including MPA Dr Zakirullah Khan, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Sultanat Yar and advocate Rahimullah, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam’s Zar Nasib Khan, Awami National Party leader Abdur Rahman Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Q’s former MPA Hasham Khan and Attaullah attended the meeting, a source privy to the jirga told Dawn.

According to the source, Bakht Baidar gave a call to residents of the Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir to hold a protest demonstration on Thursday against the civilian killings.

He said announcements would be made on loudspeakers asking local people to participate in the protest.

He said the jirga had unanimously demanded that the government and the military authorities should stop shelling on militants’ hideouts in

Swat from Chakdarra in Lower Dir.

The jirga termed security forces’ shelling from Chakdarra an invitation to the Taliban to start their activities in a more peaceful area of Adenzai.

The jirga, sources said, opposed fighting between the security forces and the Taliban on the soil of the Lower Dir district. “We will neither let the army nor the Taliban to use our soil for fighting.”

“We are peaceful and our area is peaceful. Why the government is inviting us to be part of the war,” one of the jirga members commented.

The jirga also demanded that the Pakistan Army should remove its artillery and heavy guns installed in Chakdarra and stop shelling on Swat from there, the sources said.

The jirga members, local politicians and elders of the area, the sources said, were of the view that the killing of innocent civilians was paving the way for the Taliban to strengthen their position in the region because civilian casualties and exodus from the area would benefit the militants.