Lashkar Islami chief Mangal Bagh Afridi, late on Tuesday threatened to incite violent protests, possibly even seeking the help of Afghanistan, unless the Khyber Agency political administration dropped demands for his surrender. Afridi broadcast the comments on his FM radio station, saying: “It has now become difficult for us to remain peaceful.” He was responding to Monday’s demands by Khyber Agency Political Agent Dr Tashfeen that the Zakhakhel tribe handover Afridi within one week, or else face punitive measures, including the suspension of government incentives. Dr Tashfeen had also warned that Bara bazaar would again face closure unless the activities of Lashkar Islami were curtailed. Afridi, however, remained defiant, saying: “I assure you that unlike Waziristan, our armed struggle would go beyond the frontiers of the tribal territory.”
He also warned that the agency’s elected parliamentarians would be the first to pay the price for not standing up to the ‘excesses’ of the authorities. “If you cannot make a government servant (political agent) abide by the constitution and (yet) have accepted him as the ruler of the agency, then you (parliamentarians) have no right to represent us in the assembly.”
Political authorities were swift to respond to Afridi’s warning, dispatching paramilitary forces on Wednesday to guard the residence of Maulana Khalil Rehman, the Khyber Agency’s representative in the National Assembly. Rehman said that Lashkar Islami’s drift towards violence would do nothing to resolve the situation. He noted that the group wanted him to pursue their agenda, something he said was not feasible since he represented the entire area. “My moderate attitudes towards the conflict (has) made them hostile to me,” he claimed. He also advised the authorities not to enforce the closure of places of business, since this would punish ordinary tribesmen, not Afridi.