Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: Militants torched the Snooker club owned by slain journalist Khalil Jibran Afridi in Sultankhel market in Dictirce Khyber and threatened residents to support them in their cause otherwise they would face the consequences, sources said on Monday.
They said that unknown men had smashed the door and window of the snooker club and set it on fire. The snooker club was owned by former Landikotal Press Club president Khalil Jibran Afridi who was shot dead near his home on June 18. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) claimed responsibility for the murder in a written pamphlet issued after the death of Khalil Jibran Afridi.
The militants torched the snooker club, had also pasted three different pamphlets on the walls of the marketplace and they warned that those who reopened the snooker club would be their target. They also warned mobile shops to upload ringtones and songs in mobile cell phones would be their target. Militants termed the mobile ringtones and songs against Islam and said that they spread obscenity in society.
The militants, who did not show their affiliation with any banned terrorist group, wrote in Pashtu language that their ultimate goal was to establish Sharia law on the soil of Pakistan. They further said security forces, secret agency spies and those who spread obscenity were their targets.
On the other hand, Khyber Siyasi Etihad with the collaboration of journalists and civil society members staged a protest demonstration at Charwagay which was attended by thousands of people. They chanted slogans for peace and demanded a probe of the murder of Khalil Jibran Afridi.
Meanwhile, the sit-in camp was continued on the 14th day when political leaders, local elders and civil society members visited to show their solidarity with the slain journalist Khalil Jibran Afridi. They also demand security in Landikotal.
