Yarkhun residents call for security at police check posts

BANG: Poeple of Yarkhun at a protest here demanded security at check posts to check entry of suspicious persons in their area.’

A large number of people from different villages attended the gathering to express their anger and sense of insecurity in the wake of a recent incident in which a married woman was abducted from Zupu village allegedly by a man from Arandu without being stopped at any picket at any picket from the northern most valley to the southern end of Chitral.

Those who spoke on the occasion included social activists Zahiruddin, Abdul Nasir Khan, former union council nazim Muhammad Wazir Khan, village council Khoz naib nazim Murad Drust, village council Bang naib nazim Syed Talim Shah, Haji Mir Akbar and Syed Ibrar Shah.

They said last week the woman disappeared from her parents’ house in Zupu leaving behind her minor daughter. The matter was reported to the police two hours after the incident but the accused successfully reached Langorbatt in Arandu taking the woman along. The Drosh police on Feb 22 announced that they had arrested the man and recovered the woman in their jurisdiction. The residents of Yarkhun said action should be taken against the culprit under the Islamic laws for abducting a married woman.

Speaking at the protest gathering, the notables said police check posts existed in different villages from Mastuj to Lasht and beyond. But despite being alerted by the relatives of the woman, no police official stopped the kidnapper at any picket.

They said usually the police check posts were manned at daytime but at night no official perform duty there. There have also been complaints about a lack of resources with the police who were even without vehicles to respond to the call of any emergency in the remote and sparsely populated valley.

They said Yarkhun was the most peaceful areas of Chirtal where crime was almost did not exit. But with such an incident and the negligence and laxity of the police, the inhabitants were feeling insecure. They said in the recent past unknown people from different areas have started flooding the valley in the disguise of different businesses but there was no checking of such visitors.

The speakers demanded that the police should keep a record of all those coming to the area and the purpose of their visits. They said the people of the area had been demanding that the decision of the police high-ups to include the Yarkhun valley under the jurisdiction of the newly-created Lasht police station should be taken back.

Without considering the geographical location of the area, all the villages from Istach near Brep to the Broghil valley were brought under the limits of the new police station. Earlier, these villages were under the limits of the Mastuj police station.

The move has put the local people of Istach, Dizg, Khruzg, Merting, Birzoz, Phashk, Lashdan, Imit, Bang lower, Bang upper, Mergram No 2, Urkhan, Dewser, Patrangaz, Pavur, Devser etc in an awkward situation. For instance, Istach, Dizg, Khruzg and Merting villages are located at a distance of just about 25 to 30 kilometres from Mastuj but now they have been brought under the new police station which is located at about 80 to 90 kilometres in the north.

The area from Pavur to Istach consists of 60 to 70 per cent population of the whole Yarkhun but the new police station has been set up at the end of the valley near Broghil. Through a resolution, the participants of the meeting demanded that the police should deploy personnel on all the check posts round the clock, the particulars of all outsiders coming to the area should be recorded and verified and a proper security checking of all vendors visiting the villages should be carried out.

They called upon the police and the district administration to take strong action against the kidnapper of the married woman in accordance with the Islamic laws.