(PTI) Pakistani Taliban fighters publicly flogged two butchers for allegedly selling the flesh of dead animals in the troubled northwestern Swat valley today. Heavily armed Taliban fighters brought the blindfolded butchers to a crowded market in Kabal sub-district and flogged them before a crowd of about 200 people. The media was also called by the Taliban to cover the event.
The butchers were also fined Rs 10,000 each for their "crime" by the Taliban, who have considerable influence in several parts of Swat district despite a major operation launched against the militants by the Pakistan Army.
TV channels aired footage of the butchers being held down on the ground by four masked Taliban fighters while a fifth militant flogged them with a whip. All the militants were heavily armed and had their faces covered.
The Taliban in the Swat valley of North West Frontier Province are led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah, a deputy of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Baitullah Mehsud. |