Hundreds of people have protested in Pakistan’s northwestern South Waziristan tribal district for a second consecutive day to demand the arrest of security personnel they accuse of recently killing two teenage residents.
Tribal elders, political leaders, activists of the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM) civil rights movement, and other local residents are participating in the sit-in protest in Makin area, protest organizers told RFE/RL on April 27.
The demonstrators claim that security forces opened fire on youngsters sitting in front of a shop overnight on April 25, killing two and injuring one. They also say they have identified those behind the shooting.
South Waziristan Chief of Police Shaukat Ali said a murder investigation has been launched into the case.
The protesters are refusing to bury the two dead bodies until their demands are met, including compensation for relatives of the victims and the evacuation of the houses where security personnel are currently staying.
They threaten to stage their next sit-in protest, along with the coffins, in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, or in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
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.
