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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Taliban active in the Khyber |
| 2004-08-05 |
| The Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency that abuts Afghanistan lies in the west of the Peshawar valley. The area, always conservative, is now experiencing a bigger dose of literalist Islam. A tribesman, Haji Namdar, who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, is running a Taliban-style system here to enforce Islam. Local sources say he is working with members of the Bhar Kambarkhel tribe but his influence is also spreading to other parts of the area. The 34-year-old tribesman is the supreme leader of the Amr Bilmaroof Wa Nahi Anilmunkar (Vice and Virtue) organisation. The movement was launched in the inaccessible Tirrah Valley, inhabited by the Afridis, in April 2003. By October its reach extended to the Kajhori area of Bara tehsil. By last December it had begun its 'illegal' FM radio transmission programme aimed at educating women in accordance with the strictest interpretation of the Islamic tenets. Like the Taliban's Mullah Mohammad Omar, Namdar's word is also final. "We aim to ensure peace and security and to enforce the Islamic code," a member of the organisation told TFT via telephone from Kajhori. Initially, people welcomed the organisation's commitment to curbing lawlessness. It offered an alternative to an incompetent administration. Yet there is evidence that the tide of popular support is slowly turning. As one tribesman put it: "The organisation is effectively mirroring what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. It wins public support by addressing the security deficit and then it focuses on introducing a more rigid form of Islam." Former federal minister Malik Waris Khan also echoes this view. He told TFT that people were beginning to worry about the organisation's increasing focus on religion. "If this organisation is not checked today, it may well prove dangerous tomorrow," he said. Waris Khan is also stumped by the government's response to the organisation's activities. Like others, he, too, thinks the government's silence implies acceptance of the organisation's practices, including barring local tribal journalists from reporting the activities of the organisation. Through its 'illegal' radio station, the organisation broadcasts strict interpretations of the sharia. "Everyone is obliged to adhere to them. Any show of reservation or questioning is immediately branded as defiance, a crime which runs the risk of severe punishment," a Bar Kambarkhel tribesman told TFT. The tribesman also said that the organisation's interpretation of Islam and the strict enforcement of this exegesis could lead to sectarian clashes because the people of Kajhori practice different strands of Islam. "Anyone not espousing the views of Namdar is denounced as munafek [hypocrite] and an open war is declared against him." Others agree with this assessment and say this could result in a backlash. TFT spoke with one youth who had fallen prey to the organisation's punishment scheme for defying its 'rules'. Seventeen-year-old Saleh Muhammad was shot in the spinal cord on April 19 of this year for failing to stop at a checkpoint manned by the organisation's security forces. "They paralysed me and now I have to spend the rest of my life like this," he said simply. Another tribesman, 25-year-old Zar Muhammad was also targeted by the organisation's security forces for the same crime. The organisation has also banned the use of CDs, VCRs and TVs in Kahjori areas. Punishments, including a 10-day incarceration period or a Rs 500 fine, are administered to those who do not pray five times a day. The ameer of the organisation has discretionary powers to impose the two punishments simultaneously. And those who do not observe the blanket ban on music may face a fine of Rs 10,000 or face indefinite imprisonment. Surprisingly, the FATA security chief Brig (retd) Mehmood Shah says the government has no objection to organisations that "help it [the government] improve law and order in the tribal areas." Talking to TFT he said the political administration had informed him about the existence of Amr Bilmaroof Wa Nahi Anilmunkar. However, Shah added that the government did not permit such organisations to run private prisons, make arbitrary arrests or set up FM radio stations. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #2 I think radation treatments will cure this illness. |
| Posted by: FlameBait93268 2004-08-05 5:34:30 PM |
| #1 Rs 500 fine, are administered to those who do not pray five times a day. I've often wondered if you get on a roll and lay down like 50 prayers in one day, can you take comp time? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-08-05 3:44:37 PM |