Local panic: Fear grips Swat after attacks in Kabal tehsil

MINGORA:

Residents of Swat have expressed deep concern over the killing of three members of the village defence committees in Kabal tehsil on Monday.

Following the murder of the committee’s pro-government members, a recent wave of panic and fear has spread through the region.

Members of village defence committees, peace militias and peace activists have been targeted for the last two years in Swat by militants. According to the Swat police, 20 village committee members, five police officials and 15 civilians have been killed between January and September.

Without a trace

Locals say law-enforcement agencies have struggled to crack down on the militants and take them into custody.

“It is rather strange that militants have been able to come into the valley, carry out their missions so easily and escape without a trace,” Abdullah, a peace activist in Kabal, said.

Residents of Swat have also voiced their reservations over the “tall claims” made by the law-enforcement agencies after every incident. They find it difficult to rely on law officers’ promises because no target killers have been arrested so far.

Repercussions

Peace activist and president of Nekpikhel Aman Jirga, Idrees Khan, said the recent target attacks are a reaction to the military offensive launched in North Waziristan in June.

“The responsibility of the target attacks falls on both law-enforcement agencies and the locals because militants have managed to carry out their designs without any hindrance,” Khan said. He pledged the peace militia and village defence committees will continue to fight militants.

According to police officials in Swat, law-enforcement agencies are taking steps to thwart militancy in the valley. “We have been constantly searching for the target killers and militants in the area and arrested high-profile target killers last month,” a district police official told The Express Tribune.

Three members of a village defence committees were gunned down in Kabal tehsil, Swat on Monday. According to Kabal police station, committee chairman, Zahir Shah, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Gul Jabba, separately, two committee members identified as Mohammad Zeb and Farid Khan were gunned down in Bara Bandai. The law-enforcement agencies have launched a search operation and claim to have arrested several suspects.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2014.