Swat residents on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration outside Kabal police station where multiple blasts last night left around one and a half dozen people dead, including nine policemen.
They demanded strict action against militants to eradicate the menace completely and said that the return of the TTP militants was unacceptable.
“Local residents would not accept the handing over of Swat valley to militants once again like in the past. Their brand of religion is not acceptable to us,” they said.
Locals alleged that the previous PTI government, under a secret deal, decided to hand over Swat or the entire Malakand region to the TTP militants as part of a peace deal. They warned that any such deal in which locals have no say will not be tolerated.
“The previous spell of militancy destroyed the economy of the region and ruined the tourism sector which has not fully recovered since,” they said, adding that thousands of families were forced to flee due to the subsequent military operations.
Inquiry ordered
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan has ordered an inquiry into multiple blasts at CTD Police Station Kabal to ascertain the actual causes behind the incident.
A two-member inquiry committee comprising home-secretary and additional inspector general special branch has been constituted to this effect.
In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the chief minister said that inquiry into the incident is underway, adding that though apparently it seems to be caused by a mishap, nothing could be said with certainty whether it was caused by accident or it was a terrorist activity.
Azam Khan lamented that some elements were trying to use the tragic incident for political point scoring without confirming the actual cause of the incident which is inappropriate, adding that such an attempt on the part of those elements would be sheer injustice to the sacrifices of the martyrs and to the feelings of their families.
The mysterious blasts which left at least 17 dead and 52 injured caused widespread panic in Swat. The blast was heard miles away.
Police has already claimed that it was an accidental blast in the store room of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) as explosives had been kept in the room.
They said that most probably a short circuit caused a fire which led to multiple blasts in the room.
DPO Swat Shafiullah Gandapur on Tuesday night said that there was no evidence that the attacker came from outside because a suicide bomber should have blown himself up at the main entrance of the building instead of reaching the store room.
He said that still investigations were underway and experts were checking the site of the blast.
Despite all these claims on the part of police high-ups, local residents believed that it was a sabotage activity and demanded of the government to start a crackdown against terrorists across the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2023.
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