At least 40 to 50 people including both men and women stormed Haleem Ghar, a known restaurant in Peshawar Cantonment and besides smashing tables and chairs also beat the waiters busy in serving the customers on Tuesday afternoon. According to employees of the restaurant that is situated in the secure area on Mall Road near the Tower Mall and State Life Building the attackers beat them with the sticks, which they have carried in their hands.
The attackers besides accusing the unknown attackers for beating and injuring their four colleagues also allegedly took away an amount of about Rs 0.150 million. The waiters showed the broken tables and chairs to the visiting media men as well as general public. The employees of the restaurant were reluctant to tell the true story behind the attack.
However, one of the employees on the condition of anonymity attributes the attack to the missing of a Christian girl, who was working with them. The girl (M) had reportedly married her fellow worker Fazal, a resident of the Abdara, village behind the posh University Town after embracing Islam. "The attackers while breaking the furniture and other goods were also speaking that where our girl is," Shehzad, who identified himself a waiter, told.
"I have come to the restaurant for launch when some people including women armed with sticks arrived at the entrances and started ransacking the plants and then entered inside," told Bilal, a customer at the restaurant. He also confirmed that the attackers were uttering the words to return our girl.
But, interestingly, when this scribe contacted the Police Station West, Peshawar Cantonment, an official on duty although confirmed the storming of the restaurant, but he attributed the incident to internal dispute and quarrel. He denied the registration of any kind of FIR in this regard.