Protestors in Pak display bodies of extra-judicial killing victims

London: Hundreds of protesters in north-west Pakistan have displayed the bodies of at least 14 people who they claim are victims of extra-judicial killings outside government offices in Peshawar.

Such tactics in demonstrations are said to be rare, and it reflects increasing anger among families over the killings, reports the BBC. According to villagers, the deaths occurred late on Tuesday in the Khyber Agency - a tribal region where the army has been fighting militants. An official with the Frontier Constabulary denied any involvement in the killings and said it was militants who had attacked the homes. But human rights groups and residents claim the operations carried out by the army in their search for militants frequently cause civilian casualties. Shabbir, a former Frontier Corps paramilitary, said the army entered their houses and killed their relatives to avenge the killing of six security personnel in the same area of Bara on Monday night. Protester Gulajab Afridi said there is no one to check the barbarism of the Frontier Corps against local people. He said that villagers were trapped between the military and the militants. Villagers say that while Lashkar-e-Islam militants want them to stay in their homes and not vacate their villages, the security forces arrest them on suspicion of supporting militants. The protesters shouted anti-military slogans and called on the army to end its operations in the Bara area. The demonstrators also called on the government to stop military operations in their area, withdraw a five-year-old curfew and compensate victims. ANI