Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has ordered the suspension of the district police officer (DPO) of Khyber and an inquiry to be held into the killing of two men who were in police custody, after a protest blocked the Torkham highway.
The chief minister directed that DPO Waqar Ahmad be attached to Police Headquarters, taking him off his post, and ordered the provincial police chief to investigate and report within seven days, Dawn reported.
“The chief minister directs that the DPO Khyber be temporarily closed to Police Headquarters,” the order said.
What happened
The two men, Eshfaq Ahmad and Hidayat Khan, were killed on Sunday evening in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber district.
They had been arrested earlier on Sunday after an exchange of fire in the Malagori area in which a police officer, SHO Riaz Hussain Afridi, was killed. According to Nukta, the station house officer died during a police operation against non-customs-paid vehicles, and the two men were held as suspects in his killing.
Police said the two detainees were being taken to a site as part of an investigation into a car smuggling case when unidentified gunmen opened fire. DPO Waqar Ahmad said the men’s associates had attacked in an attempt to free them while they were being taken to the crime scene for identification. According to the police account, the team “came under intense fire from different directions by unidentified gunmen”, and both detainees were killed.
Protest on the Torkham highway
The police account was rejected by local residents. On Monday, members of Zwan Kukikhel Tanzeem, a local youth organisation, blocked the Torkham highway, the main road linking Peshawar with the Afghan border crossing at Torkham, and displayed the coffins of the two men.
The protesters accused the police of “orchestrating” extrajudicial killings. Relatives of the two men, joined by tribal elders and local political leaders, said the pair had no involvement in the SHO’s killing.
The inquiry
The inquiry was ordered under Section 9(2) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act, 2017. The Inspector General of Police must carry out the investigation and submit a report to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat within seven days.
A difficult time for KP’s police
The killings come at a tense moment for policing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A police officer was killed in the Malagori clash that led to the arrests, and last week militants killed 14 people in an attack on a checkpoint in Darazinda, Dera Ismail Khan. The provincial government is also locked in a dispute with the federal government, warning of a strong public response if governor’s rule is imposed.
What happens next
The Inspector General’s report is due within seven days. It will determine whether the police version of events holds up and whether any officers face action. Until then, the DPO remains off his post.
Why it matters
When people in custody die, the state carries a special responsibility to show what happened. By removing the district police chief and ordering a time-bound inquiry, the chief minister has responded to the anger in Khyber. The families of Eshfaq Ahmad and Hidayat Khan, and the protesters who blocked the Torkham highway, will judge the result by whether the truth about their deaths comes out.
This article draws on reporting by Dawn and Nukta.
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