Relatives of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel who lost their lives in two suicide attacks from 2011 have staged a sit-in at De Chowk on Wednesday. At least 100 people lost their lives and more than 100 were injured in two suicide bombings at the FC’s main training center in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2011. Protesters are demanding that promises of government compensation for the families of those who fell in the line of duty should be fulfilled.
A majority of the soldiers who lost their lives in that attack were from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Protesters included women, children and the elderly. The families of the martyrs said in a statement that those who fell in the line of duty in the security forces were to be paid Rs. 3 million each (30 lakhs). According to the families, 80 percent of these families did not receive it, while only 20 percent of the families were given full compensation..
Family members told Naya Daur Media that most of the soldiers who lost their lives were under the age of 25 and their children were orphaned, but the government paid them Rs 500,000 and abandoned their families.
The father of a late FC Jawan from Lakki Marwat told Naya Daur Media that his 22-year-old son, who had not even started life yet, was recruited to the FC for the sake of his elderly parents and three children. “And on his way home for the first time after completing his training, he was killed in a suicide attack. Since then, doomsday is upon us.”
He added that a large number of Lakki Marwat youths were serving in the FC and that seven people from a small village lost their lives in the 2011 attack, but the families of those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of peace were not looked after.
“We demand from Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to listen to our pleas and help to compensate us,” he added.
