Collective responsibility: Political administration arrests 20 people in Mohmand Agency

Govt’s job is to arrest militants who killed dam workers and failure to do so led to them arresting locals instead.

GHALLANAI:

The political administration of Mohmand Agency on Friday arrested 20 people for refusing to provide security to workers of a small dam in Ghallanai.

The locals were asked to guard the site themselves as they will benefit the most from the dam, said Jamshed Khan, an official of the Upper Mohmand political administration. Following the October 2013 attack on workers in which three employees died in an IED blast, the administration asked residents to guard the workers according to local customs. He added their refusal to do so led to the government arresting them under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

Tribal elders of the area, Malik Mehraban Shah and Sajid Mohmand, said despite it being a tribal custom, locals are unable to provide security to workers as the present security situation is too volatile.

Mohmand said it is the government’s job to arrest militants who killed the dam workers and their failure to do so had led to them arresting locals instead.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2014.