Absent authorities

On January 21, 2025, my maternal uncle went to the cattle market of Pezu from Serai Naurang in the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to purchase some cattle. On the way back home, two robbers stopped his pickup truck in the mountains of Pezu on the main Indus highway and deprived him of his cash, amounting to around Rs220 million, in broad daylight. The gunmen also shot at him, but he miraculously escaped. Soon after the incident, he approached the police personnel deployed at a certain check post and apprised them of this unfortunate occurrence but they took no notice of it, saying that it was beyond their power and jurisdiction. My maternal uncle was so disappointed by the behaviour of the security personnel that he did not deem it appropriate to register an FIR against the culprits at any police station.

Where is the district administration and where are our law-enforcement agencies? Earlier, the drivers and travellers were afraid of driving their vehicles and making trips on the road at night. But now, the looters and killers are so courageous that they brandish their weapons openly and fearlessly, sparing not even the poor animal dealers in the daytime. Had the police patrolled just a small portion of the highway located between Pezu city and the check post regularly, no untoward incident could have occurred.

Aryan Khan

Lakki Marwat