[The News (Pak) Top Stories] After dislodging Maulana Fazlullah-led militants from their strongholds in the Swat Valley, the Army and civil administration, with the help of elders, are accelerating efforts to form Lashkars to fend off the return of the militants to towns and villages which they previously controlled. The News has learnt that the authorities were planning to raise armed Lashkars in the previous strongholds of the Taliban -- Matta, Kabal, Charbagh and Khwazakhela. The militants have been defeated in these areas during the full-scale military operation launched in May this year. These Lashkars will guard their villages and would make sure that the militants do not return to implement their self-styled laws and slaughter, flog and insult local populations.The sources involved in the process of forming Lashkars told The News that the first armed Lashkar, comprising hundreds of volunteers, had been formed in the Gat area of Matta. Gat is a village near Peuchar village located to the west of Matta town. Both the areas, nestled in sky-high tree-studded mountains, served as the nerve-centre of the militants in the post-November 2007 military operation, the first action by the Army to flush out Fazlullah and his gang when they had captured the government installations in cities and towns, ostensibly as a reaction to the Lal Masjid operation.
The sources said in another area of Matta Tehsil, Shangwatai, an armed Lashkar was being raised to resist any future attempt by the militants to return. "Now, the people have realised that the Taliban are their enemies," a senior official said.
Locals and sources said around 700 elders gathered in the Shangwatai area of Matta a couple of days ago to deliberate on the forming of the Lashkar. The Jirga of the elders decided to form the Lashkar to stop the return of the militants.
The locals and sources said the Lashkar would be raised very soon. They said the elders vowed not to tolerate the militant-terror rule in the valley anymore. They noted that it was high time for the residents of the area to stand up to the militants.
"They have blown up our mosques and schools and attacked funeral prayers. They exhumed the bodies of our own people from graves and insulted them," the elders said. "The Taliban are not amongst us, as they subjected the people of Swat to unforgettable cruelty," he said.
The people, the locals said, were quite encouraged after the recent military operation in which the militants were made to lick their wounds. "The date for raising the Lashkar is being kept secret because of security reasons, as the Taliban can strike to stop the formation of the Lashkar against them. However, it will be raised very soon, in days," the sources said.
The Taliban had ruthlessly acted to foil all the previous attempts by the people in different areas, particularly in Matta Tehsil, to raise Lashkars against them. They attacked some elders, trying to raise a Lashkar, at a mosque in the Gwalerai area of Matta last year and killed several of them, besides capturing scores of others. The people were suppressed effectively through their terror tactics.
Another Lashkar, led by Pir Samiullah in the Mandal Dag area of Matta, was also crushed. Samiullah was killed and his body, which was secretly buried by his followers, was exhumed by the Taliban last year. His body was hung from a pole at a square in the town and a couple of his followers were slaughtered publicly.
Another attempt to form a Lashkar in Wenai, which previously served as the borderline between security forces and the Taliban operating in Peuchar, also could not succeed. After a change in the security situation, however, the people have gathered courage to form Lashkars to guard their villages and towns.
Lashkars in Charbagh and Khwazakhela would soon be formed, the sources said, adding that the same was already in place in Kalam. The Lashkars will act jointly with the Army against the Taliban. "All the Lashkars will be linked up and closely coordinated with the Army," the sources said.