Outraged protesters took to the streets for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as they demanded action against attackers who opened fire on a vehicle carrying school children in Swat yesterday.
A driver of a school van was killed and two students were injured when their vehicle came under attack by unidentified gunmen in the village of Guli Bagh within the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Swat district.
Officials said the assailants were waiting on a motorcycle and attacked the van as it passed. They fled soon after the attack.
Massive protests erupted across the region and have continued into a second day today as protesters demanded the arrest of the assailants.
Journalist Iftikhar Firdous stated that protesters had been on the road for 36 hours, with low-level negotiations with them having so far failed.
Locals claim that terrorists from banned outfits were behind the attack, although no terrorist group has yet taken responsibility for the attack.
According to some reports, the protesters have refused to bury the victims of the attack as they stage a sit-in.
Meanwhile, social activists criticised the government for paying no heed to the matter.
Member of National Assembly Mohsin Dawar in a tweet said that “the attack on a school van in Swat should serve as a wakeup call for the state that appears to be losing its writ” in the region.
Former Federal Interior Minister and Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Aftab Khan Sherpao also raised concerns over the government’s failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the matter.
The concerned citizens of the region also warned the authorities concerned of marching to Islamabad if the accused were not brought to justice at the earliest.__Tribune.com
