DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The killing of a young man from Wazir tribe of South Waziristan by members of local peace committee sparked violent protests in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday. Muhammad Idrees, a law department student at the Gomal University, was allegedly gunned down by members of the peace committee in Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) on Sunday. Yasir Wazir, brother of the deceased, was also seriously injured in the attack. Soon after the incident, thousands of tribesmen from the two main Wazir and Mehsud tribes held a grand Jirga in DI Khan, setting a one-day deadline for the arrest of the killers primarily the main culprit Sher Khan Mehsud, brother of Misbahuddin Mehsud who heads the peace committee. Police assured the protesters that the killers would be arrested within 24 hours. After the deadline expired on Tuesday without any arrest, enraged tribesmen marched toward the house and office of Misbahuddin Mehsud, setting his house, his office and two of his vehicles on fire. Earlier, the Jirga held by tribesmen from South and North Waziristan had agreed on the five points to be presented to the government such as arrest of the killers, recovery of missing persons and closure of peace committee offices in DI Khan and Bannu. Police detained hundreds of the people from North and South Waziristan. Tribesmen said that some elements had ignited tensions in DI Khan by murdering Idrees Wazir at a time when all Pashtuns had gathered in Islamabad attending Pashtun Qaumi Jirga. “The killing of the Wazir tribesman is a botched attempt to sabotage the Islamabad sit-in staged by Pashtun against the killing of Naqeeb Mehsud, who was gunned down in Karachi on January 13 in a fake police encounter,” they said.
Published in Daily Times, February 7th 2018.
