Protest against Taliban: Landikotal residents block Pak-Afghan highway

16 Mar, 2008

Local Taliban forced the women not to sit with open faces near the roadsides in Charwazgai in Landikotal however, some people of the nearby area reacted to this action of local Taliban and blocked the Pak-Afghan highway for nearly half hour in protest against Taliban and the administration.
According to details the workers of Local Taliban Tehreek raided a pick up vehicles stand standing there in the square of Charwazgai Landikotal for picking up and dropping the local women passengers for different areas. The main objection of the Local Taliban was that the women should not go anywhere without any male supporter of their family and that the drivers of the pick up vehicles should not make a crowd of vehicles there which was an immoral and unIslamic.
The local Taliban forced the sitting women there to leave that place, told an official source. After the Taliban left the sight, the local people of Khyber reacted against the extremist act of Taliban that they were not authorised to force the alien women to leave and not to go to and from for their domestic needs and meeting their relatives.
The local protesting people were of the view that majority of the tribal people are in Karachi, Lahore and other areas, that is why their logic was that tribal women were compelled to come out for condolence, joining weddings of their relatives and going for doctors.
They strongly condemned the step of local Taliban and termed it against Islamic code of conduct and the Pukhtoon traditions to force the women of other people to be limited to their homes. The local protesting people were also of the view that it was the duty of the political administration to have a watch on the stand of the taxi vehicles and provide protection.
Later the administration reopened the road for the traffic and pacified both sides to respect the Islamic and tribal codes and conducts. The local tribal people are afraid that due to such activities the area may be in the grip of feuds and insurgency and tension could wrap this peaceful tehsil. They feared that due to the growing incidents the International road might become unsafe for the traffickers.

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