Paying the price

Adezai tribal lashkar stands financially and socially ruined for taking on the Taliban on Peshawar’s outskirts.

PESHAWAR: They have been at war with Taliban militants on the outskirts of the provincial capital for the past two years. Their valour and determination to fight off the insurgents has been exemplary. They have lost the heads of their families, their children have stopped attending schools, their sons quit lucrative jobs in Gulf states just to take up arms against militants even as their relatives were slaughtered.

It started when former Adezai union council mayor, Abdul Malik, challenged Taliban militants in October 2008 after security forces sprung him out of prison. Malik was arrested following an attack on a police patrol in Adezai village in August 2008. Upon his release, he pledged not to support the militants.

Back in the village, Malik raised a tribal legion, or lashkar in tribal parlance, and took on the Taliban. He and dozens of his fellow tribesmen were killed in a suicide attack in November last year.

Inside the compound, heavily-armed family members sit on cots, ready to ward off any possible attack from the Taliban. Small children also stay indoors instead of going to school.

“It has been very tough to fight an invisible enemy, who can attack you at anytime,” Fazl Malik, a son of the slain mayor told The Express Tribune. Members of the legion have been receiving threatening calls, letters and messages from the militants.

The Taliban have an advantage: they are mobile, elusive, heavily-armed and foolhardy enough. Malik’s family, on the other hand, is vulnerable to attacks. The family lost its political clout in the area, following the killing of Malik and the leadership of the lashkar also went to another elder of the area.

The younger Malik said around 25 children of his family have stopped attending school in the wake of security concerns. “Except for minors, no girl or boy from the family goes to school and we also have to escort the minors to and from school,” he said. “Our children’s future is spoiled. And we can’t do anything,” the younger Malik added.

Muhammad Ali, a nephew of Abdul Malik, said he suffered Rs2.5 million in losses after militants blew up his home. Now he is living in the elder Malik’s house. “We get nothing from the government, despite the fact that our homes were blown up and we are living with our relatives,” he said.

Fazl Malik and Abdul Khaliq used to work in Abu Dhabi before the killing of their father. But they had to leave their job to return and protect their families. Malik said they could not work anywhere in Pakistan. They lost their jobs and their businesses. However, this has not dampened the spirit of the younger Malik. “We will sacrifice everything for a better future for our village and our coming generations,” he said. “It’s a battle for our future.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2010.