Peshawar:
The members of the Provincial Legislature of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) sentenced an alleged drone strike in the Mardan area of Katlang in the last week of March and demanded a judicial investigation into the incident.
The legislators of the treasury and opposition banks also asked to summon the Inspector General of the KP Police (IGP) and the Secretary of the Interior, questioning why and how the strike was carried out.
On Friday a session of the Provincial Assembly was held under the presidency of the speaker Babar Salem Swati. After offering Fateh sentences for Katlang’s victims, legislators discussed the tragedy that resulted in the death of 9 civilians, including two women and two children.
Zarshad Khan, a MPA of PTI de Mardan, declared that the drone strike occurred in its constituency only two days before Eidul Fitr, pointing to innocent civilians. Due to pain and fear, the people of Babuzai did not celebrate Eid, he said.
According to Zarshad, some shepherds, who belonged to the Gujjar community from Swat, had been migrating to the area during winters during the last 60-70 years. They had leased the mountains for six months at a cost of RS500,000.
“They were supposed to return after EID, but only two days before EID, an unmanned aircraft strike killed nine people, including two children and two women. Their bodies were placed on the highway in protest.
“These people were not terrorists but innocent civilians. If security agencies make an error, they should be admitted and accept an apology,” he said.
He also condemned the statement made by KP Prime Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, regarding the Katlang incident and requested a judicial investigation and the approval of a resolution in the assembly.
Iftikhar Ali Mashwani, who is also from Mardan, questioned who carried out the operation and why. He said that the IG and the Secretary of the Interior should be summoned and asked why these innocent civilians were killed.
Malik IQbal of the PTI said that the incident, based on defective intelligence, was deeply tragic.
Shafiullah Jan said from 2014 to 2018, the United States carried out 430 drone attacks on Pakistani soil, which resulted in 1,800 deaths. He said that drone strikes are never precise and affect many others. He said that the situation of the law and order in the southern districts is already precarious.
“Our leader [Imran Khan] He had protested against drones strikes years ago. If everything that must be done now are table conversations, why didn’t the problem be raised before? Killing common people in the name of anti -terrorism only pushes the province of terrorism, “he said.
He also accused the authorities of being more focused on breaking the PTI to address real problems. He condemned the statement of the Federal Information Minister of Atta Tarar, who allegedly said that no civilian was among the dead in the Katlang.
“Women and children were also martyred in the unmanned aircraft strike. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that terrorists were sent to hell in the incident.
“Those who witnessed the incident are disconsolate. A judicial investigation must be carried out,” he added. Pti Humayun Khan legislator also declared that Shepherds had rented the land in the areas of Katalang, adding that all relevant documents were available in this regard.
On March 29, the KP Government issued a statement, expressing regret for civil casualties during an anti -terrorism operation against outlaws in Mardan, extending their “deepest condolences to affected families” with whom, he said, he interposes at the time of pain.
Counting details of the operation, the government said the security forces carried out an operation in the early hours of March 29 in the remote area of the Katlang hill in Mardan.
He declared that the operation was based on credible intelligence with respect to the presence of armed militants who used the location as a point of hiding and transit.
“The operation successfully neutralized several high -value objectives linked to current militant activities in the region. Unfortunately, subsequent reports confirmed the presence of non -combatants, including women and children, on the periphery of the target zone, which resulted in tragic civil victims,” he said.
