April 27th, 2021
By Hamid Riaz & Hassan Raza
LAHORE
Residents of the Makin village, in S. Waziristan, are staging a sit-in against shooting dead 2 boys, injuring another. Residents allege it was Frontier Core (FC) personnel behind the incident last night.
Despite heavy rain, a large number of protesters are at the protest camp as this report is being filed.
They are chanting slogans against the LEAs and have refused to bury the bodies of Kalam and Inam until all their demands are met.
“Security forces shot these boys without any provocation or due cause. We have just held a grand Jirga of our community and we have decided that we will not bury the bodies of our martyred children until the state accepts all of our demands,” says a participant of the sit-in on condition of anonymity.
The protestors have demanded the registration of an FIR against a Colonel, a Captain, and a Subedar of the 244 Wing of the frontier core. They have also demanded that the families of the martyred boys be given Rs 1 crore 50 lac each as Diyat or compensation for the killings. In addition to the immediate demands, the protestors have also demanded that the FC vacate all houses in the area which they have illegally occupied. Lastly, residents of the area have also demanded from the authorities that they ensure lasting peace in the region.
Leading Pashtun rights activists including Alamzaib Mehmood, Abdullah Nangiyal, Advocate Fazal, and Manzoor Pashteen have confirmed the incident and have expressed solidarity with the protestors over social media.
Organizers of the protest have claimed that Pashtun rights activists like Manzoor Pashteen and Alamzaib Mehsud have been stopped by police from attending the sit-in. Additional reports of residents being prevented from attending the sit-in are also pouring in.
Meanwhile, the boy who was injured in the shooting has appeared in a video with the local District Police Officer (DPO) and has claimed that the FC personnel saved his life.
“My friends and I were sitting outside a local shop and were watching a movie. I told my friends that I am going to go home but one of them stopped me and suggested we play the online game PUBG because the internet connection at that spot was good. The next thing we know someone started firing at us. I called out to Allah and went unconscious. The FC personnel helped me and took me to the Rzmak hospital. They saved my life,” the boy can be heard saying in the video.
While organizers of the protest have disputed this claim. “The injured boy was picked up and kept in custody. He is giving this statement under duress. Every soul in Makin knows what actually happened. Otherwise so many of us would not be here,” says Faisal one of the organizers of the protest.
