Taking serious notice of the killing of 18 tribesmen in Khyber Agency on January 15, authorities on Friday announced to remove Col Jawad, the chief of Frontier Corps in Khyber Agency. According to official sources, Col Jawad would now be replaced by Col Naeem Sarwar as the FC Khyber Agency chief. Following a militant attack on a checkpost of security forces on the midnight between January 14 and 15, 18 bullet-riddled bodies were found near Alamgoodar Bara on January 15. On January 16, tribesmen along with the bodies staged a sit-in in Peshawar outside the Governor’s House. The protesting tribesmen told reporters that people in security forces uniform broke into houses and sprayed bullets on the people. But officials contradicted the allegations and held militants from a banned group responsible for the violence. However, representatives of protesting tribesmen levelled similar allegations during negotiation with officials headed by Governor Barrister Masud Kausar and demanded stern action against those responsible. The government team assured the tribesmen of conveying their sentiments and grievances to the quarters concerned. Governor Barrister Masud Kausar had announced Rs 0.4 million as compensation for the heirs of each deceased. The protesting tribesmen have also demanded an end to military action in Bara that was killing innocent people.
