PESHAWAR: Eight months ago, Fida Muhammad of Sheikhan village was summoned to a ‘court’ of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in adjacent Akka Khel because his opponents had lodged a complaint against him.
The ‘qazi’ told Fida, 55, he must return the land he had grabbed from others. When Fida pleaded not guilty, he was thrown into a cell for 10 days. After that, he was once again asked to surrender the land, but Fida stuck to his guns and again refused. This time, he was handed a penalty of lashes, at the hands of six teenage boys almost the same age as his sons.
Fida’s nephew Noor Muhammad told The Express Tribune he was with his uncle when LI announced the sentence.
"They suddenly started beating us. The six of them beat us non-stop for three hours, after which we were not even able to stand on our feet," he recalled. Later, Fida and his nephew were released on the condition that they would pay a ‘fine’ of Rs1.1 million.
"The entire land is just 34 marlas and worth Rs750,000 at most. But we had no option, so we took loans and paid the amount as the lives of our entire family were at stake," said Noor, adding Fida never recovered from the brutal assault and died on Tuesday after being bedridden for nearly eight months.
The LI holds two ‘courts’ near Sheikhan, said Noor: "We were summoned to the one in Mandy Kas."
According to him dozens of people are killed by militants and even law enforcers, despite the fact that they are not directly party to the conflict with either of them.
"There are personal and family feuds in the region; it is no secret. People use both militants as well as law enforcement agencies to harass opponents without inviting much attention," said Noor, stressing people must be stopped from taking their complaints to LI courts.
"If you have money, everyone will take your side, be it the police or militants. But if you are a poor man like me, there is no place to hide."
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2014.
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How exactly do these courts remain undetected by the Army that is supposedly carrying out an operation against the terrorists? If locals know about all this how can this remain unknown to the Army. And if Army knows about this, why there is no action against these militants running a state within state.