Afzal Khan Lala, district nazim to lead volunteers
Sunday, Delawar Jan, September 27, 2009
Security forces claimed to have killed seven militants in Ser Tiligram area of the restive Swat valley as thousands of people formed lashkars in Shangwatai and Drushkhela areas of Matta to track down the hiding Taliban leaders and stop the return of insurgents to their villages.
The lashkars were led by two well-known personalities of the valley. The former federal minister and veteran leader of the Awami National Party, Muhammad Afzal Khan, spearheaded what he called “defense committee” in his village Bara Drushkhela. The district nazim Jamal Nasir Khan, who until now was living in Islamabad, returned to Swat to head the lashkar in his village Shangwatai. Both had suffered at the hands of Taliban.
Follow up:
Taliban attacked Afzal Khan, commonly known as Khan Lala, in his car in 2007 but he survived. The militants then launched one after another attack on his house but he fought them with the help of his relations and supporters. The army too later came to his help. Khan Lala also lost his two grandsons. He earned praise and respect for heroically standing up to the Maulana Fazlullah-led militants.
Jamal Nasir and his family were also attacked and his house in Shangwatai torched. He survived an attempt on his life.
“Around 2,500 persons gathered in my destroyed house to form the lashkar against the militants,” Jamal Nasir told The News by phone from his village. He said Shangwatai was one of the Taliban strongholds but they would not be able to entrench again as this time the people were determined to fight them. “By forming lashkar, we want to convey a message that we are with Pakistan, not Taliban,” he said. The district nazim said the militants did not spare mosques, funerals and Eids and had destroyed the infrastructure and economy of the valley.
“Now we will track down their hiding leaders along with the army to make them pay for their brutalities,” he vowed.
Afzal Khan also demonstrated a similar resolve for complete elimination of Taliban from Swat. “People’s support is must for armies to win any war and these defense committees will provide the same to Pakistan Army in Swat. We will be leading any effort to kill or capture the leaders of the Taliban who have killed our children,” he remarked.
The veteran leader also brushed aside the concerns of some quarters that such lashkar could result in civil war or they could challenge the government’s writ in future. “The people who are showing such concerns are those living outside Swat. They and their children are safe from the brutalities of Taliban,” he argued, adding they could not think of challenging those who saved them.
However, he said the people whose near and dear ones were brutally slaughtered or shot dead might take revenge in their personal capacity. “Pakhtuns do not forget the murder of close relatives or let the perpetrators escape punishment,” he said.
Brigadier Jamal Abdul Nasir of the Pakistan Army also addressed the lashkar at Bara Darushkhela in Khan Lala’s presence and assured the military’s help to volunteers in their fight against militants and seeking to bring peace to Swat.
On the other hand the chief of Shangwatai lashkar and district nazim Swat, Jamal Nasir said there would be no element of revenge in lashkars. He said, “Pakistan’s enemy will be our enemy. We have no personal enemies.” Meanwhile, the Swat Media Centre Saturday said the security forces during the last two days killed seven militants in Ser Tiligram area of Manglawar in the valley. “Search and cordon off operations were carried in the area and seven militants, including a local commander Abdul Sattar, were killed,” a spokesperson for the centre told The News by phone from Swat.
A press release of the Inter-Services Public Relations claimed that 20 militants surrendered to the security forces in Swat on Saturday. It said three tunnels were discovered in Chuprial area of Matta when the troops raided the house of a militant Saiful Maluk.
During search operation at Mahak near Shah Dheri, the security forces recovered three cylinders with 20 kilos explosives in each and one air- compressor with 200 kilos of explosives from a graveyard, the press release added. Security forces, it said, raided the house of Nazim in Koza Banda and apprehended a militant Asim along with Nazim Sher and another accomplice. There were reports that the security forces arrested 10 militants.
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