Peshawar:

Members of the provincial legislature of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) The province on Friday condemned an alleged drone strike in the Katlang area of ​​Marran in the last week of March and demanded a judicial investigation into the incident.

Legislators from both the Ministry of Finance and the opposition benches also called for the call of the KP Inspector of the Police (IGP) and the Home Secretary, where he questioned why and how the strike was carried out.

A provincial assembly session was held on Friday under the presidency of speaker Babar Saleem Swati. After offering Fateh beans for the Katlang victims, the legislators discussed the tragedy, resulting in the death of 9 civilians, including two women and two children.

Zarshad Khan, a PTI MPA from Marran, said that the drone strike took place in his constituency just two days before Eidul Fitr, which was aimed at innocent civilians. Due to grief and fear, the people of Babuzai did not celebrate Eid, he said.

According to Zarshad, some shepherds belonging to the Gujjar community from SWAT had migrated to the area in the winter for the past 60-70 years. They had rented the mountains for six months at a price of RS500,000.

“They should return after Eid, but only two days before Eid killed a drone strike 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 the security agencies made a mistake, it should be admitted and they would accept an apology,” he said.

He also condemned the declaration of KP Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on the Katlang event and called for both a legal investigation and the adoption of a decision in the assembly.

Iftikhar Ali Mashwani, who is also from Marran, questioned who performed the operation and why. He said that IG and the home secretary should be summoned and asked why these innocent civilians were killed.

Malik Adeel Iqbal from PTI said that the incident, which was based on defective intelligence, was deeply tragic.

Shafiullah Jan said from 2014 to 2018, the United States performed 430 drone strikes on Pakistani soil, resulting in 1,800 deaths. He said that drone strikes are never accurate and affect many others. He said that the law and the order situation in the southern districts are already uncertain.

“Our leader [Imran Khan] had protested against drone strikes many years ago. If all that needs to be done now is table negotiations, why wasn’t the question raised earlier? Killing ordinary people in the name of terrorism only pushes the province further into terrorism, ”he said.

He also accused the authorities of being more focused on breaking PTI than tackling the real problems. He condemned the declaration of the Federal Minister of Information Atta Tarar, who allegedly claimed that no civilians were among the dead in Katlang.

“Women and children were also martyrated in the drone strike. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the terrorists were sent to hell in the incident.

“Those who witnessed the incident are becoming heart bridle. A legal investigation was to be conducted,” he added. PTI legislator Humayun Khan also stated that the shepherds had rented the land in the Katalang areas, adding that all relevant documents were available in this regard.

On March 29, the KP government issued a statement that expressed regret over civilian losses during an terrorist surgery for banning in Marran and expanded its “deepest compassion to the families concerned” with whom it said it stands in the moment of grief.

The government, which tells details of the operation, said security forces conducted an operation in the early hours of March 29 in the distant hilltop area in Katlang in Marran.

It stated that the operation was based on credible intelligence regarding the presence of armed militants who used the location as a hiding place and transit point.

“Operation successfully neutralized several high-value goals linked to ongoing militant activities in the region. Unfortunately, subsequently reported the presence of non-border, including women and children, in the periphery of the target zone, resulting in tragic civilian losses,” it said.