The political administration on Monday convened an all-Mohmand tribes jirga for Tuesday (today) to discuss the “birth of the Taliban” in Mohmand Agency, as a militant leader warned of suicide bombings if security forces launched an attack.Local militants on Sunday seized the shrine of freedom fighter under British rule Haji Sahib Tarangzai and named it Lal Masjid. “Around 200 all-Mohmand tribes’ elders will meet in Ghalanai to discuss the Sunday incident and devise a future course of action under the tribal tradition,” a local administration official told Daily Times. “We will meet tomorrow to take a collective decision (against the Sunday action of the local militants) and to shoulder the territorial responsibility under the Frontier Crimes Regulations,” tribal elder Muhammad Ali said. A Haleemzai tribe jirga told the administration that they would help the Saafi tribe only if they could not tackle the militants in their areas.
“The Haleemzai tribe is ready to help the Saafi tribe if it asks for support,” the Haleemzai tribe jirga said. Militant leader Umar Khalid, meanwhile, warned of suicide attacks if the government attacked them. “We will use suicide bombers in self defence,” he told Daily Times. He tried to distant himself from Al Qaeda and the Taliban and denied his group was staging attacks across the border. He said they would welcome a “foreign guest if he comes to our areas”. “We are locals. There is no single non-local in our ranks. Our struggle is to carry on the Ghazi Abdur Rashid mission.” He spelled out a plan to “Islamise” Mohmand tribes, saying, “gradually the people will be guided through a vice and virtue force.”