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India-Pakistan
LI refuses money, men for assurance
2008-07-09
LI chief Mangal Bagh on Tuesday refused to provide monetary and other guarantees to ensure writ of the state in Khyber Agency. 'I can give you my word, but I cannot give men as guarantors,' he told a tribal jirga that met him in Tirah Valley. 'In tribal society, words matter. I will honour my word,' Bagh told the negotiators. Jirga leader Amal Gul Afridi said that he was 'satisfied' with the talks. 'A promise is stronger than a guarantee (in tribal system),' he told Daily Times upon returning to Peshawar.
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India-Pakistan
LI stages rally to protest killing of students in Bara
2007-04-26
The Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) staged a rally on Wednesday in Mandi Kas, some five kilometres from the Bara Bazaar, to protest the killing of four students in recent clashes. Most of the rally participants were armed youths, while the speakers condemned the killings of students and demanded the government let Mufti Munir Shakir live in Bara.

Protesters passed a resolution calling for restoration of peace in the area through a jirga. They also demanded the government reconstruct the LI’s demolished centres. Haji Amal Gul Afridi, belonging to Malak Din Khel tribe and chief of an organisation called ‘Sarishta’, told Daily Times that the recent clash between the LI and government had disturbed the law and order situation in Bara, and that the government was responsible for the present state of affairs. “The LI is playing its due role to maintain peace in Bara,” he added.

Asim Afridi, a shopkeeper, said his daily sales had plummeted from Rs 30,000 to Rs 15,000 after the recent clashes, adding that students should not be involved in politics.

Saifud Din, who runs a public call office, said the crisis had massively affected his business and that the government was responsible for it. A taxi driver, requesting anonymity, told Daily Times that the situation in Bara had started worsening when several organisations emerged in the area. He said the LI workers had forced drivers to hoist LI’s black flags on their vehicles lest they should be fined.

LI Commander Mohamad Tayyeb said Benazir Bhutto should review her statement condemning the LI activities, lest her party should suffer in the Khyber Agency. “Our protest will continue till Mufti Munir is back in Bara and demolished markets are reconstructed,” said Tayyab, adding that the government had agreed in a jirga to hand over the house of Pir Saifur Rehman to the LI, and that they had 30 witnesses to bear out this agreement. “Setting up check posts, fining people and burning down a criminal’s house are part of the Khyber Agency’s tribal customs, and we fine only those people against whom we have valid complaints,” said the Lashkar commander, adding that the LI had not instigated students to come to streets.
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India-Pakistan
LI supporters riot in Bara
2007-04-23
Angry protesters set fire to five security check posts, plundered several shops and exchanged fire with security forces here following the end of a two-day deadline given by Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) chief Mangal Bagh to the Frontier Corps (FC) and Khasadars to vacate seized centres of the LI.

Mangal Bagh had warned the security forces in an announcement on FM radio two days ago that the organisation would start protests if the LI centres were not vacated by 6am on Sunday. Soon after the deadline ended, several people, most of them children from various tribes, reached Bara Bazaar from Qambarabad, Shaikhan and Alhaj market and set five check posts ablaze. The protesters plundered several shops in the bazaar and also damaged government property. The security personnel fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the mob. The protesters later moved into a settled area near Bara and destroyed several music and video shops there.

During the same protests, activists of the LI set four houses of their rivals on fire while the FC managed to protect the house of Pir Saifur Rehman after a two-hour shootout. Four LI activists and a passer-by were injured in the gunbattle.

As the protesters entered Bara Bazaar, some LI activists demolished the house of Khalifa Majid Malang, a former leader of the Afridi tribe, and tried to enter Arjli Naddi Centre in Shalober, but returned after holding talks with FC and Khasadar personnel. The LI activists then demolished the nearby houses of Ansarul Islam supporters Ghani Malang and Shahbaz Khan. They also set fire to the house of another rival, Zamindar Badshah, in the Sipah area of Bara.

Meanwhile, the Malakdin Khel tribe has announced that it will not cooperate with the government until it reconstructs a demolished market and compensates the tribesmen. Addressing a press conference, Malakdin Khel supreme commander Haji Amal Gul Afridi said his tribe had cooperated with the government and complied with a notice to vacate the market without resistance, but the government destroyed the market with dynamite instead of discussing the issue with them.
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