Death, Money & the Law from Khyber to Karachi

Locals cleaning the blood from the scene inside Mandokhel mosque

please note if you pick up sarcasm in the way i have written this:it is 100% intended.

The Jamrud mosques brutal suicide bombing on friday cost fifty one peoples lives. One writer describes the Mosque post attack

Prayer caps, shoes and prayer mats were scattered across a blood-splattered floor, while ceiling fans were twisted and walls blackened. Men comforted a young boy who wept as he held his hand to his heart.

One can go into how horrific it is that a young teenager blew himself up and killed countless people, you could also go into a rant about how brutal all of this is, but here is the bit that caught my attention. The Tehrik-e-Taliban have already accepted responsibility for the attack with their statement to the NEWS in which they said it was a simple case of punishing the unfortunate Afridi tribes.

Tariq Afridi group of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened more strikes against the Kukikhel Afridi tribe if it continued to resist the TTP militants in the Tirah valley in Khyber Agency.

Talha argued that Kukikhel tribe had hatched a plan against their group in Mehraban Killay of Tirah valley, and that was the reason that its tribesmen were attacked in Jamrud.

More serious actions will be taken against the Kukikhel tribesmen if they kept up resistance against the TTP in Tirah, he warned.

Talha said Kukikhel Lashkar had killed their fighters in Tirah valley and had demolished houses belonging to the TTP men there.

  Thankfully the government has swung into action and helped the locals out in this difficult time, as you would expect for locals who have taken up arms against a brutal enemy, who is out to destroy the local area and given a chance destroy the whole country.

The political agent announced Rs50,000 each for the heirs of those killed in the attack while the injured would receive Rs25,000.

 Good no? Just like the compensation the Chakwal suicide attack victims got ..Awan said heirs of every deceased would get Rs 300,000, while every injured person would get Rs 100,000 each in compensation.

Or the unfortunate flood victims in Sialkot Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan announced Rs 500,000 and Rs 100,000 compensation for each dead and injured, respectively, on behalf of the prime “Action in Aid of Civil Power”minister.

Or the flood victims of Hunza Gilani said an amount of Rs 200,000 would be paid for those wholost their land, Rs 400,000 for completely damaged houses and Rs160,000 for partially damaged houses.

As a further thank you, the Pakistan government has been kind enough to toughen up the laws on the side, in a little-noticed presidential ordinance, promulgated on June 28 called “Action in Aid of Civil Power”.

Described nicely by Rahimullah Yousafzai as  The regulations provide legal cover to the “unlawful acts of armed forces” during military operations with retrospective effect-i.e., Feb 1, 2008—and empower the security forces operating in both federally and provincial administered tribal areas to keep terror suspects in custody at undisclosed location for 120 days.

To add to it, the new ordinance has several clauses to protect against abuse like this one  these regulations provide that a statement or deposition by any member of the armed forces, or any officer authorised on his behalf, shall be sufficient for convicting an accused.

  

I suppose one has to be fair..these are exceptional circumstances, the locals of khyber agency are being unrealistic, one cannot expect the government to constantly pay compensation for terror attacks. Also the ordinance may sound harsh but thankfully the government has a consistent policy in dealing with mass murder. NOT