JI regional chief shot dead in Darra Adamkhel

Suspected Taliban militants have shot dead the chief of the local chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami and kidnapped his son in the semi-tribal region of Darra Adamkhel, sources said on Wednesday.

“Muhammad Khan, chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Frontier Regions, was shot dead and his son, Haji Khan, was abducted by armed militants while they were walking towards a mosque to offer Isha prayers in Sherakai village on Tuesday night,” a tribal source told The Express Tribune.

According to the source, Taliban militants had issued threats to Muhammad Khan asking him to restrict his activities or face consequences. They were also asking for Rs five million extortion, the source added.

However, a JI spokesperson has a different version of the incident. “Unknown men abducted our party’s regional chief, Muhammad Khan, and his son after Isha prayers,” Muhammad Iqbal, the spokesperson, told The Express Tribune. “Khan’s body was found dumped near his village on Wednesday, but there is no trace of his son,” he added.

Asked whether the JI leader had received any threats from militants, the spokesperson said he wasn’t aware. Instead he blamed security forces for the incident. “After 6pm a curfew is imposed in Darra Adamkhel every day. So there is no question of anybody else kidnapping the father and the son,” he said.

Iqbal said it was responsibility of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to ensure safety of people. “Attacks on Jamaate-e-Islami leaders show that the provincial government has failed to provide security to its people,” he added.

The attack happened in Darra Adamkhel tribal region, which is part of the Frontier Region Kohat and situated some 25 kilometres south of Peshawar.

It was the second attack on Jamaat-e-Islami leaders in Kohat division in less than a week. On June 16, suspected militants had gunned down Fida Sadiq, former chief of JI in Hangu district. Senior JI leader Haji Dost Muhammad was killed and several others were injured in a suicide attack in Qissakhwani Bazaar of Peshawar on April 24.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2010.