Gomal Zam Dam: Crackdown against Mehsuds in SW for release of abducted workers
Drey Mehsud tribes say they should not be held responsible because the FCR does not apply to IDPs.
Eight workers were kidnapped by the Taliban on their way to DI Khan on August 15. PHOTO: FILE
DERA ISMAIL KHAN:
The political administration of South Waziristan has launched a crackdown against Mehsud tribesmen for failing to secure the release of abducted employees working on the Gomal Zam Dam project.
Eight workers were kidnapped on their way to DI Khan on August 15. The Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the incident. One of the workers, Engineer Mushtaq, was shown dead in a video released on September 11.
South Waziristan Political Agent Shahidullah Khan told The Express Tribune that 25 Mehsud tribesmen along with four of their vehicles have been taken into custody by the administration under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).
Khan added that the crackdown will continue until the workers are produced.
He said the arrests were necessary because even the nine-member committee comprising tribal elders from Mehsud and other tribes had failed to free the workers. “Earlier, a jirga of the Drey Mehsud tribes had been called in Tank, where tribesmen were warned of dire consequences if workers were not produced,” said Khan.
The Dehra Mehsud tribe, however, say they should not be subjected to collective responsibility and the FCR does not apply to them as they are only internally displaced persons from South Wazirstan, who are now settled in Tank.
Earlier, the jirga declared that tribal law cannot be applied as tribesmen themselves are displaced, but that negotiations are possible.
On Thursday, the Peshawar High Court had ordered Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Additional Chief Secretary and Additional Secretary Law to set up a camp office and gear up the process for workers’ release.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2013.
The political administration of South Waziristan has launched a crackdown against Mehsud tribesmen for failing to secure the release of abducted employees working on the Gomal Zam Dam project.
Eight workers were kidnapped on their way to DI Khan on August 15. The Tehreek-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the incident. One of the workers, Engineer Mushtaq, was shown dead in a video released on September 11.
South Waziristan Political Agent Shahidullah Khan told The Express Tribune that 25 Mehsud tribesmen along with four of their vehicles have been taken into custody by the administration under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).
Khan added that the crackdown will continue until the workers are produced.
He said the arrests were necessary because even the nine-member committee comprising tribal elders from Mehsud and other tribes had failed to free the workers. “Earlier, a jirga of the Drey Mehsud tribes had been called in Tank, where tribesmen were warned of dire consequences if workers were not produced,” said Khan.
The Dehra Mehsud tribe, however, say they should not be subjected to collective responsibility and the FCR does not apply to them as they are only internally displaced persons from South Wazirstan, who are now settled in Tank.
Earlier, the jirga declared that tribal law cannot be applied as tribesmen themselves are displaced, but that negotiations are possible.
On Thursday, the Peshawar High Court had ordered Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Additional Chief Secretary and Additional Secretary Law to set up a camp office and gear up the process for workers’ release.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2013.