Thousands of people in northwestern Pakistan took to the streets Tuesday for a second day to protest a surge in suspected militant attacks in Swat Valley.
The recent events could disrupt years of peace, development and tourist activities in the region.
The mass demonstration came a day after an unknown assailant riding a motorcycle opened fire on a school van in Mingora, a central town in Swat. Police said Monday’s shooting left the van driver dead and a student wounded.
Protesters, including students and teachers, kept the driver’s body on a main road and refused to bury it until their demands for preserving the peace were met.
Later Tuesday, after a 40-hour sit-in, demonstrators agreed to disperse following negotiations with government officials that resulted in assurances that victims’ families would receive financial compensation and that all possible efforts would be made to arrest the shooter and restore peace in the area.
No one has claimed responsibly for Monday’s attack, but residents accused the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, of being behind the rise in violence in the area.
Swat used to harbor TTP strongholds until 2009, when a major military-led counterterrorism operation evicted the militants and restored government authority there.
Pakistan in recent months has engaged the militant group in peace talks brokered and hosted by the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where fugitive TTP leaders are sheltering. But the peace process has not ended the violence, nor is it known if the talks remain on track.
The resurgent violence and ensuing pro-peace protests come a decade after Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai, who advocated for the education of Pakistani girls, was shot in the side of her head by the TTP while riding in a school van in her native Swat in 2012.
Yousafzai, who was 15 when she was attacked and received life-saving treatment in Britain, became a global education advocate and the youngest recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
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