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| India-Pakistan |
| Tribesmen refuse to pay their electric bill... |
| 2002-09-04 |
| Tribesmen of the Khyber Pass are blocking supply along Pakistan's main road to Afghanistan in an armed protest over unpaid electricity bills. Ohfergawdsake! When Pakistan's despairing power company plunged their houses into darkness after years of non-payment, thousands of Afridi and Zakhakhel tribesmen responded by taking up their AK-47 assault rifles, heavy machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They're avid elk hunters, y'know... Gathering for an emergency meeting of a jirga, or tribal council, they resolved that they would never pay their bills and would blockade the pass until their electricity was restored. They don't have to pay their electric bills like the rest of us because, ummm... Because they shouldn't. Pakistan's crucial trade route came to a halt and hundreds of trucks were stranded at the Torkham border crossing. After three days of blockade, patient diplomacy by Pakistani "political agents" in charge of the autonomous region known as the Khyber Tribal Agency succeeded in clearing the pass on Sunday. The tribesmen's electricity was also restored, but they are still resolved never to pay the bill. "We're entitled to that electricity because we have turbans and we have guns! Wanna see me beat my wife?" Zarnar Afridi, from Landi Kotal in the Khyber Pass, led calls for a protest. Mr Afridi, 40, is the son of a spiritual leader of the Afridi tribe and a local organiser for Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist party. Who else? He said: "I told everybody we have made sacrifices for Pakistan. We fought the British, we fought Hindu domination, we fought India and we helped our Afghan brothers to fight the Russians. "Paying for stuff is sissy! Wanna see me cut somebody's hand off?" Virtually all the men of the Zakhakhel tribe and thousands of others rolled boulders on to the road near Ali Masjid, the narrowest point of the pass. Some tribesmen set up mortar positions and bombarded two bridges near the village of Malik Daria Khan. All the bombs missed and there was no damage. They can't hit the broad side of a barn, but they fought the British, the Heathen Hindoo, the Russers, the Samoans, the Eskimos, and now they're looking for those damned Mexicans... Thanks to Paul for the tip. I actually passed on blogging this one a couple days ago; the account in Dawn was nearly incoherent... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 Terrific! - I had tears running down my cheeks with this one. Fearless fighters indeed! |
| Posted by: Tony 2002-09-04 20:19:50 |
| #1 According to The Bear Trap, they used to do this all the time during the war. Probably ever since the dam was built. I have this vision of an Afghan Deliverance running in my head ... |
| Posted by: Dan Hartung 2002-09-04 22:06:01 |