CHITRAL: In the village area of Dodan Darosh of Chitral, protesters blocked the Peshawar-Chitral highway for the second time in a week with huge traffic jams demanding the immediate arrest of the killers of the two villagers of Shahnagar.
Hundreds of commuters face trouble as protesters staged a sit-in on the Kuldam Gol road, blocking it for seven hours for all traffic and demanding immediate arrest of the killers of two people who were brutally murdered in Shahnagar last time.
According to details, people of Darosh Tehsil in Lower Chitral blocked the main Peshawar-Chitral highway for the second time on Wednesday, last time two people Ashraf Ali and Ehsanuddin of the Shahnagar area of Darosh were brutally murdered while they were fetching firewood from the forest.
At that time, the people of the area kept their dead bodies on the road at Darosh Chowk and closed the Peshawar-Chitral highway to all traffic. Later, Sub Divisional Police Officer Darosh Iqbal Karim assured that the accused would be arrested within 48 hours after the protesters cleared the way.
Though the deadline expired, the accused were not arrested and the people of the eighteen mosques again gathered at Kuldam Gol Chowk on the call of Shahnagar Village Council Chairman Waqar Ahmed.
Protesters again staged a sit-in on the Peshawar-Chitral highway in protest and kept it closed to all traffic for seven hours.
The protesters said that the police failed to arrest the accused, hence they were forced to protest again. A protest rally was also held on this occasion, to which representatives of all political and religious parties expressed their views.
The speakers said, “The recent incident appears to be a deliberate conspiracy to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Chitral.”
They said that after three days, the police failed to arrest the killers of innocent persons.
The protesters also chanted and shouted slogans against the police and the district administration.
Later, the district administration, while negotiating with the protesters, assured that the accused would be arrested within two days and their houses demolished.
Protesters ended the sit-in and opened the road to traffic.
Talking to people who attended the meeting, elders of the area said that the accused belong to the Gujjar community, who have illegally occupied public pastures and forest.
