PESHAWAR: The Janikhel tribesmen today (Sunday) decided to call off their week-long sit-in they had been staging in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bannu district after the authorities released four missing men.
Bannu Division Commissioner Shaukat Ali Yousufzai has confirmed that tribesmen had ended their protest after successful negotiations with the local administration. The talks were held at Commissioner Office in Bannu.
Talking to a private newspaper, the commissioner said a jirga of the Ahmedzai Wazir tribe had held talks with the government on behalf of Janikhel protesters and both sides had reached an agreement. He said the government had released the four missing persons as part of the agreement.
The commissioner also said that another deal between the government and Janikhel tribesmen reached earlier in March, following protests over the killing of four boys belonging to the Janikhel tribe, would remain valid.
A local resident present at the site of the protest also confirmed the development. He said the protesters were returning to Janikhel town and intended to bury the body of slain tribal leader Malak Naseeb Khan, whose killing sparked the latest protest.
Khan was an active tribal leader and had been at the forefront of the sit-in staged by the tribesmen against the killing of the four teenage boys in the area. He was shot dead by gunmen in the area about a month ago.
The tribesmen had been protesting since then, refusing to bury the body until the killers were taken to task. Later on June 23, they started a march towards Islamabad with the body to protest what they termed the police’s failure to arrest the culprits.
The march followed a violent clash as police intercepted them at Tochi Khan bridge, at a distance of about seven kilometres from Janikhel. Over 50 tribesmen were arrested following the clash, who have been also been released.
