By Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: A dispute over the possession of a government-allotted residential quarter in the Landikotal tehsil compound turned violent on Wednesday, resulting in a clash between the staff of tehsildar Taimoor Afridi and Jail superintendent Inayatullah Afridi. However, no casualties occurred, police said.
Tehsildar Taimoor Afridi told the media that the Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Landikotal had allotted the residential quarter to the outgoing jail superintendent.
Following the superintendent’s transfer, Taimoor Afridi said the assistant commissioner directed him to take possession of the quarter by locking it. Afridi claimed that when his staff reached the residential quarter to take up their position, they were confronted by jail police personnel stationed there. Taimoor Afridi said jail staff manhandled him with their staff, and he opened fire.
“This matter could have been resolved legally and peacefully, but instead the law was taken into one’s own hands,” tehsildar Afridi stated.
Jail superintendent Inayatullah Afridi gave a different version of the incident. He alleged that his family was still living in the quarter when the tehsildar’s staff came to his quarter.
“When I came back from duty, I found that two of my guards had been taken away by the Tehsildar. His staff scuffled with my personnel, tortured them and took their weapons. My staff were arrested at the jail gate and are now locked up at the police station,” the jail superintendent claimed.
Inayatullah further said his staff members were badly injured and he was compelled to shift his family from the quarter due to safety concerns.
Landikotal police confirmed that an FIR will be registered against Jail superintendent Inayatullah Afridi and his staff on the complaint of tehsildar Taimoor Afridi. The charges include assaulting government staff and opening fire during the official operation.
Landikotal police said that four jail police identified as Tanseer, Mujahid Rahim, Muhibullah and Adnan
have been arrested and put behind bars.
Police said they were lodging an FIR against Tanseerullah, Mujahid Rahim, Muhibullah, Adnan and Superintendent Inayatullah Afridi.
This is the second clash in 24 hours between government departments in the Khyber district. A day earlier, Customs officials at Torkham shut down their offices, accusing Frontier Corps (FC) personnel of interference and unlawful detention of customs staff. Trade activities at the border crossing were suspended for several hours as a result.
The recent incidents have raised concerns about deteriorating coordination and growing tension among various departments operating in Landikotal. No official inquiry has been announced so far in either case.
