Police officers took to the streets in protest against the Police Lines mosque blast as they threatened the government with en masse resignations if a proper investigation is not carried out.
Monday’s bombing was the deadliest in a decade to hit Peshawar. Over a 100 people were killed.
The policemen in their uniforms chanted “long live KP Police” and “Aman Ghawaru” (we want peace).
Mass resignations
In a shocking development, a memo circulated by the special branch of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police has revealed that over 100,000 junior ranks are considering resigning en masse, if the mosque attack was not properly investigated.
The memo, which is circulating on social media, is based on Whatsapp messages sent by a group named “All KPK Police Junior Ranks.”
“Written and voice messages are being circulated by unknown persons in various groups of WhatsApp, demanding the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the Police Lines mosque blast and to take revenge from those responsible by revealing the real facts,” stated in the letter.
“Otherwise, the junior rank personnel have been directed to submit their resignations to the concerned unit,” it added.
Written messages have also been copied in the letter which are as follows:
1-If the blood of our personnel is not avenged, the entire KP police will leave duty and all the officers will submit their resignations together on the same day. (From All KP Police Junior Works)
2- You all have to get united or else you will have to take up these funerals every day. (From All KP Police Junior Works)
If the JIT was not formed for a transparent inquiry into the blast, and the facts were not made public in the press conference, almost 100,000 junior policemen will write mass resignations at the same time on the same day and submit them to their respective units, read the third message.
The sender also asked to spread the message in the other Whatsapp groups as much as possible.
It is worth mentioning here that the death toll from Peshawar’s suicide attack on a mosque rose to 101 by Wednesday morning after another man succumbed to his injuries, Lady Reading Hospital spokesman Mohammad Asim said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Police Lines mosque Monday just as the imam was preparing to lead zuhr prayers, according to police and witnesses.
Prayer leader Norul Amin was killed and many of the victims were police officers and constables.
Funerals were held across several districts of KP on Tuesday. At least 28 victims were from Charsadda.
Over two dezen injured were still receiving medical treatment at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hosptial. At least 8 of them were said to be in critical condition.
