While speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday a group of Afridi tribe’s elders belonging to Khyber district described the killing of five suspects in an operation in Hayatabad as a fake encounter and called upon the government to announce a judicial inquiry into the incident within three days.
They also announced that if the demands are not met the Afridi tribe would announce an agitation plan against the killings and its responsibility would rest with the rulers.
The tribal elders were led by the nationalist leader Rahim Shah Afridi, “All the tribes of Khyber district have devised a plan to announce a protest movement for an indefinite period if the government did not approve a judicial probe into the incident and the destruction of the house where the accused persons were killed,” said Rahim Shah.
The tribal elders also disputed the police version about the April 16 encounter while also expressing their frustration with the terrorism charge being levied against the victims, they added that the victims had nothing to do with terrorism and that the police had labeled them as terrorists without any proof.
Besides other elders, Jalil Afridi — a cousin of Amjad Afridi who was among those killed in the Hayatabad operation — was also present in the press conference.
The Afridi tribe, Rahim Shah claimed, was ready to prove that Amjad Afridi was innocent and his killing was the part of a well-organized conspiracy to give a bad name to the people of his area. He said that the Afridi tribe wanted to clarify its position and would not accept the label attached to them.
Other elders present there included Aftab Shinwari and Ajmal Afridi, who said that the incident had shocked the people of Khyber district as they had nothing to do with terrorism. They decried the unjust treatment of the police and called it out for intentionally linking the victims to terrorism.
