Scores of people fled Mohmand Agency as security forces targeted local Taliban positions, well-placed sources told Daily Times on Wednesday.The Frontier Constabulary (FC) launched a major operation against local Taliban, who recently intercepted several trucks loaded with flour and oil bound for Afghanistan. They sold the commodities “being smuggled to Afghanistan” to locals at government rates and even compensated the drivers, the sources said.
The operation was also prompted by Taliban attacks on checkposts in agency headquarters Ghalanai late on Monday night, which left two militants dead and two security personnel – Subaidar Hamid Khattak and constable Idrees – injured.
Meanwhile, residents from Darwazgai staged a protest in front of the Peshawar Press Club. The Mohmand Agency residents said the local Taliban were members of their families and demanded that the government stop the operation immediately.
Injustices and exploitation: Shahbaz Yasir Ali Mohmand, a National Assembly candidate for NA-36, told Daily Times that around 100,000 people had vacated the area since late Monday night, after the FC started targeting their areas with artillery.
He said the Taliban were locals who had taken up arms against “injustices and exploitation” perpetrated by the political administration and chieftains.
Mohmand tribesmen support the Taliban, he said. “The Taliban are seeking an end to the colonial-era rule of Maliks and the political administration to solve the problems of tribal people.” Shahbaz said tribal people would expand their movement and relocate to Afghanistan if security forces continue targeting their homes, he added.
He also warned that the National Assembly candidates of the agency would boycott the elections if the government did not stop the operation immediately. He did disclose, however, that the masked gunmen who had occupied the shrine of Haji Sahib Turanzai and an adjacent mosque on July 29, included some foreigners and local Taliban from other tribal agencies.