Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police offer Rs20m, 10 sheep to settle deaths of two men

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have agreed to pay twenty million rupees and provide 10 sheep to the families of two men who died in custody.

A tribal jirga settled the dispute over allegations that the men were killed extrajudicially. The families agreed to forgive the police.

What did the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police agree to in the settlement?

Police agreed to pay compensation, apologize to the families, withdraw first information reports (FIRs) against the two men and their associates, and return confiscated vehicles. The deal followed four rounds of consultations between police, the families and tribal elders through a jirga, or traditional council, former lawmaker and jirga member Shafiq Sher told Nukta.

Sher said the compensation is described as a shuhada, or martyr, package. It includes twenty million rupees and 10 sheep, in line with local tribal customs.

Who confirmed the jirga agreement?

Waqar Ahmed, district police officer for Khyber, confirmed the settlement. He said police agreed to participate in the jirga after tribal elders and the families sought mediation.

"As the jirga has reached a conclusion acceptable to the police, families and relatives, we will abide by the decision in accordance with tribal customs," Ahmed told Nukta.

Why did protests break out in Khyber over the two deaths?

The deaths of Ishfaq Ahmed and Hidayat Khan triggered protests in Khyber last week. Relatives, tribal elders and local political leaders placed the men's bodies on the road and blocked the Pakistan-Afghanistan highway in Jamrud on Sept. 28. The bodies were later buried after the provincial chief minister ordered an inquiry.

The two men had been detained in connection with the Sept. 27 killing of Malagori Station House Officer Riaz Hussain. That killing happened during a police operation targeting non-customs-paid vehicles in the Malagori area.

What did police and the families say happened in custody?

Police said Ahmed and Khan were killed in an exchange of fire. They said associates of the two men allegedly attacked a police team that was taking them to the area to identify the location where Hussain was killed.

The families and protesters rejected that account. They alleged that the two men had been killed in custody and had no involvement in Hussain's death.

Will the inquiry into the Khyber deaths continue?

The provincial government decided to establish a judicial commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding Hussain's killing and the deaths of Ahmed and Khan. Police and jirga members said the inquiry would continue despite the settlement.

The inquiry will include efforts to establish who was responsible for Hussain's killing and to prevent similar incidents in the future.