PESHAWAR: As a sit-in against the deaths of four children in suspected quadcopter munitions drop continued for a second day in the Mir Ali tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan district, police said talks with local elders on the matter were underway.
The suspected strike took place in Mir Ali’s Hurmuz village during the daytime, leaving four children of the same family dead and injuring five others, including a woman, according to sources. Both security forces and the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are known to have been using quadcopters.
North Waziristan District Police Officer Waqar Ahmad confirmed to Dawn.com that “negotiations are ongoing and results are awaited”.
Before the talks began, Mir Ali Tehsildar Sher Bahadar said: “The representative jirga (council of elders) has just arrived, and we will devise a plan together before proceeding with negotiations with them.”
Bahadar said he was leading a team in negotiating with the jirga members.
While local authorities were investigating the incident, there has been no official statement from the federal government on the matter. KP Relief Minister Haji Nek Muhammad Dawar had strongly condemned the strike and pledged to bring those responsible to justice.
Locals had staged a sit-in at the tehsil’s centre with the bodies, which continued today.
Allama Iqbal Dawar, a protest organiser and a local PTI leader, told Dawn.com that the locals have not buried the bodies as protesters want the authorities to verify the dead.
“We have not buried the four children and are demanding that the security officials come and see the bodies [to decide] whether they are terrorists.”
The PTI leader said there was a break in the sit-in until 3pm due to the severe heat. “Bodies are in vehicles and their air conditioners are on,” he said.
Dawar further said that residents had held a series of meetings with officials after previous such incidents, in which there were civilian casualties.
“But civilian casualties have not yet been stopped and another attack was conducted on Monday morning. People are now frustrated and insist that drone strikes on civilians must stop.
“We are protesting to get assurance but the authorities are not coming to talk to us,” he said, prior to the confirmation of the talks.
Dawar claimed that drones do not reach their targets to hit militants, but usually fall on the population. He stressed that locals also opposed the imposition of curfew and have discussed the issue with security officials.
In March, at least 11 people were killed in Mardan in what locals insisted was a drone strike, but officials said was an operation carried out against militants. According to locals, the deceased were civilians, including women and children, working as shepherds.
An alleged drone attack in the Konrai Raghzai area of Upper South Waziristan district killed one person and injured three others in September last year. While the local sources confirmed the drone attack, there was no official confirmation of the drone strike.
Separately, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed alarm over the incident in a post on X.
The organisation said, “While the source of the strike remains unclear, the reportedly continued use of drones in civilian areas is deeply concerning and constitutes a grave violation of human rights, including the fundamental right to life.”
“HRCP supports the local community’s demand for an independent investigation into the incident.”
On Monday, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also addressed the incident in the National Assembly in the form of “positive advice” for the government.
He said the rulers and the establishment needed to think about giving strength, reassurance and confidence to the nation. “If today still drones fall in Waziristan […] how will we respond to the people? These are sensitive matters and should be reconsidered. We cannot maintain national unity without thinking about this.”
