Fear, shock shroud Tirah after killing of abducted traders

KHYBER: The killing of abducted Tirah traders’ leader Haji Sher Mohammad and his colleague on February 4 by proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has largely dampened the spirits of locals with most of them remaining in a state of constant fear and shock since the occurrence of the gruesome incident.

Local sources told this scribe that although markets in Tirah were open, people preferred to remain indoors. They said that markets gave a deserted look as trading activities were badly affected by the incident, which left most of the local traders and shopkeepers in an uncertain situation.

They said that attendance at weekly Thursday and Friday fairs, which had been held regularly for decades at Lar Bagh-Markez of Malakdinkhel, was thin and trading activities came to almost a halt during the current week.

“Local traders and ordinary residents have lost faith in the security arrangements and they now feel highly insecure with the tragic loss of their popular leader and a colleague in an act of terrorism,” a local trader told Dawn while requesting anonymity.

Markets wear deserted look as locals prefer to remain indoors

He said as to how ordinary people could repose trust in law-enforcement agencies to restore peace in the valley when their prominent leaders were not safe.

The only daring and bold voice came from a local tribal elder during the funeral of the two executed men when Malak Zahir Shah openly challenged the proscribed militant organisations as to why they targeted innocent people with no concrete proof of their alleged involvement in any act of spying on their activities.

In an emotional speech he delivered at the funeral and videos of which were shared on social media, Malak Zahir Shah insisted that people of Tirah reserved the right to probe the incident of the brutal killing of Haji Sher Mohammad and Ibrar Afridi. He called upon all the Triah tribes to join hands in expelling such undesirable elements from the area.

Sources said that Malak Zahir Shah and his family members had then immediately shifted to Peshawar for personal safety.

The abduction of Haji Sher Mohammad and Ibrar Afridi on January 30 and their subsequent execution by TTP on charges of espionage was the first incident of its kind during the last decade when thousands of displaced families had relocated to their houses in different areas of the valley, situated close to the Afghanistan border.

The presence of militants mostly affiliated with TTP, Lashkar-i-Islam, Emarat-i-Islami and Hafiz Gul Bahadur group was felt by the residents of the valley back in June 2022 as armed men had occupied a number of abandoned and damaged houses in the absence of locals.

Sources in the region said that initially those armed men had insisted that they would not harm locals as they had waged a ‘jihad’ against the security forces while they would only insist on provision of food and temporary shelter in their time of need.

They said that the armed men would use local population as human shield when security forces would launch an operation against them as they would ‘conveniently’ mix with local population and take shelter in their homes.

Sources said that the decade-long militancy and subsequent military operation in the valley and surrounding localities greatly weakened the resolve of locals to put up any resistance to armed groups and thus they failed to organise a powerful protest against those groups after the murder in captivity of the two traders.

Meanwhile, Bara Siyasi Ittehad has announced to organise a protest on February 15 against the killing of two traders and the current deteriorating law and order situation in most parts of Khyber.

Sources said on Monday that a man and his young daughter were injured in a quadcopter strike in Umarkhel locality of Tirah valley.

They said that the quadcopter strike hit a private house which injured two persons and also damaged a portion of the house. No further details of the incident could be gathered as there was no official word about the strike.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025