Two men killed in police custody spark protest in Pakistan's Khyber district

Tribal elders and relatives blocked the Pakistan-Afghanistan highway in Pakistan's Khyber district on Monday, placing the bodies of two men killed in police custody on the road. They demanded an investigation into the deaths, which followed a Sunday gunfight in Malagori that killed a police officer.

What happened in the Khyber police custody deaths?

Police say Ishfaq Ahmed and Hidayat Khan were detained as suspects in the killing of Station House Officer Riaz Hussain during a Sunday operation in Malagori. District Police Officer Waqar Ahmed said their associates opened fire in an attempt to free them while the men were being taken to the crime scene for identification. Both suspects died in the exchange.

The gunfight occurred during a police operation targeting non-customs-paid (NCP) vehicles. Police said Hussain was killed when suspected smugglers opened fire on the team.

Why did families reject the police account?

The families, joined by tribal elders and local political leaders in Jamrud, rejected the police version of events. They alleged that the two men were not involved in Hussain's killing and had been killed extrajudicially without a proper investigation.

Protesters demanded the suspension of the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) and the Khyber District Police Officer (DPO). They also called for an investigation into the deaths and the registration of a first information report (FIR) against the police officers allegedly involved.

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Tribal elder Malik Naser said the men were neither terrorists nor smugglers and described their deaths as a "clear injustice." He accused police of misusing their powers. "If there is no trust left in the courts, they should be closed, and police should start killing accused people like this," he said.

Have other suspects been killed in police custody in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?

The deaths come amid several other reported cases in the past month in which suspects were killed while police were transporting them to alleged crime scenes. On Sept. 22, an armed group allegedly attacked police personnel taking a detained suspect accused of desecrating graves to the alleged crime scene. The suspect was killed in the attack.

On Sept. 11, four men accused of gang rape were allegedly killed in police custody as they were being taken to the alleged crime scene in Peshawar. On Sept. 1, a wanted suspect identified as Mumtaz, also known as Mumtazy, was killed when unidentified attackers allegedly opened fire on a police vehicle while he was being taken to Peshawar. Police said he was wanted in several cases and had been brought back to Pakistan through Interpol.