Swat militants announce enforcement of Shariah
PESHAWAR: Mulla Fazlullah-led local Taliban on Tuesday announced the enforcement of Shariah in Swat by appointing administrators for five subdivisions now under their control.
The announcement, which would further provoke the government, was made as sporadic clashes continued between the militants and the security forces deployed in lower parts of the Swat Valley.
Militants, who prefer to be called Taliban, captured five subdivisions including Kabal, Matta, Charbagh, Khwazakhela and Madayan. “Our fighters just captured Madayan tehsil without firing a single shot,” claimed Sirajuddin, a spokesman and military commander of rebel cleric Maulana Fazlullah, while talking to ‘The News’ from an undisclosed location.
He said with the fall of Madayan tehsil or subdivision in their hands, they had now control of five subdivisions. He said they were now controlling the entire region up to Kalam, the most scenic tourist resort of the valley, in upper Swat.
After getting control over the five subdivisions, militants announced imposition of Shariah (Islamic rule) and replaced the Pakistani flags at police stations and other government buildings with white flags. Also, they nominated their own administrators for the area now under their control.
According to militants, Shah Dawran, who is deputy to Maulana Fazlullah, was appointed as administrator for Khwazakhela, Akbar Hussain for Kabal, Khan Kitab for Matta, which is considered a stronghold of the militants, Bashir Ahmad for Charbagh and Bakht Jehan for Madayan. Interestingly, except Shah Dawran, none of the appointed administrators is a religious scholar.
Maulana Fazlullah, who is also known as Mullah Radio due to his widely listened FM radio, would enjoy the status of ‘Amirul Momineen’ or leader of the Muslims.
The Fazlullah-led militants opened offices in their dominated areas and asked people to register their complaints if any with the Taliban who would remain present there round the clock.
Militants set up check-posts at various points, including Dheray, Shahkar Dara, Pir Kalley, Chota Kalam, Baryam Pul and Sambat where they thoroughly checked all the vehicles. Sirajuddin said all the commercial banks in Taliban-dominated areas resumed functioning from Tuesday and the local militants were deployed for their security.
Also, he said, he personally made a phone call to the executive district officer (education) and asked him to reopen all the educational institutions in the four affected subdivisions and assured him of full security on their part. “I told him if he did not reopen educational institutions, it would be considered a great excess with our children,” he said.
When asked about the educational institutions for girls, he said they had not yet decided in this regard but if anyone attended school or college shrouded in traditional ‘burqas’ would be allowed to do so. He claimed that police and paramilitary Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel deployed in Madayan subdivision approached them to surrender and quit their jobs if provided safe passage by the militants.
“We seized their arms and allowed them to go and thus the entire tehsil fell into our hands without firing even a single shot,” the spokesman claimed.
Similarly, sources said militants got control of the FC camp in Bagh Dheray, Fatehpur police station and an office of the Agriculture Department without any resistance by the security forces.
After getting control of Madayan, militants were seen entering Bahrain, another beautiful tourist resort in the Swat valley and were advancing towards Kalam. Militants said besides discouraging other crimes, they also banned the cutting of forest and timber smuggling to the down country which they said continued due to the corrupt officials of the Forests Department.
When this scribe approached a senior government official for seeking official version about Tuesday’s developments and claims made by militants, he said after the imposition of state of emergency in the country they were barred from making any statement regarding certain key issues.
Source: The News
Date:11/7/2007
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