Police in Pakistan’s northwestern South Waziristan tribal district say a murder case has been lodged against four security personnel accused of being involved in the killing of two youngsters that triggered three days of protests earlier this week.
South Waziristan police chief Shaukat Ali told RFE/RL on April 29 that tribal elders filed the case against a colonel, a major, a captain, and a soldier.
Hundreds of people launched a sit-in protest in Makin area on April 26 and refused to bury the dead bodies until their demands for justice were met.
The demonstrators claimed that paramilitary Frontier Corps members opened fire on youngsters sitting in front of a shop overnight on April 25, killing two and injuring another. They also said they had identified those behind the shooting.
Their protest action was called off and the bodied were laid to rest after South Waziristan officials inked an agreement with tribal elders and elected parliamentarians of the tribal district late on April 28 stating that a compensation of 2 million Pakistani rupees ($12,950) will be paid to the families of those killed or wounded in the incident, while two members of each family will be given jobs.
Under the agreement, paramilitary forces are also to vacate residential compounds.
Residents near the border of Afghanistan, including many ethnic Pashtuns, have complained for years about the army's heavy-handed tactics in their campaigns against militants that have killed thousands of Pashtun civilians and forced millions more to abandon their homes since 2003.
