While we have been talking about Saddam’s hanging, this is happening in our own backyard. Sniffer dogs is all it takes to get someone declared guilty. And on top of that, is the barbaric method of execution.
GHALANAI (Mohmand Agency), Dec 29: An Afghan refugee was stoned to death on Friday on the charges of attempted robbery and murder. The man was sentenced by a tribal jirga in the Bedamnai area.
Tribal elders of the Musakhel tribe met in Khwezai tehsil, 20km west of the agency headquarters and decided to carry out the sentence in accordance with “Islamic laws”. The Afghan refugee named Imran had allegedly killed a boy named Shah Khalid during an attempted robbery two weeks ago.
The boy’s mother was injured during the incident. Zahir Gul, who is said to be Imran’s accomplice, is still in the custody of the deceased’s family. A decision about his fate would be taken later by the tribal elders.
After the robbery incident, the boy’s father, Mirza Khan, and his relatives had hired two sniffer dogs from Lahore to trace out the culprits. The dogs had pointed out the residence of Imran, following which the man was taken into custody. They claimed that he had named Zahir Gul as his accomplice.
The jirga also prohibited local people from renting out houses to Afghan refugees besides threatening violators with a fine of Rs1 million. About 500 tribesmen were reportedly involved in stoning the man to death. Later, some of the tribesmen are also said to have fired at the dying man.
This is the second time that a man has been killed by stoning in two weeks.
Kekeshan, while this is deporable, you also seem to criticize any methodology that the government adopts to put an end to all this non-sense, quite frankly because the political party you pledge allegience to (we know which one it is) opposes the Armed Forces. This incident just shows that Government is and should put an end to this and introduce an element of civilization into these tribes.
This kind of barbarity is another justification of the Musharraf govt's policies in the FATA region, and to bring them into the mainstream polity of Pakistan.
That's a good point Spock. It's unfortunate that people oppose the govt when it does something to stop extremism, and then complain later when atrocities like these happen. But the govt must persevere regardless of such double talk from opponents who oppose for the sake of opposing, nothing else.
I encourage any democratic method taken to change the tribal culture and backwardness that causes this. The current approach lacks transparency and accountability.