CHITRAL: Expressing dissatisfaction at the security arrangements in Bamburet Valley, members of the minority Kalash community have asked the President of Pakistan and chief of the army staff to help protect them from the Afghanistan-based militants.
Talking to The News on Friday, Qazi Oushtur, a religious leader of the Kalash community, said a delegation comprising six persons had brought the body of his slain nephew Abad Khan from Afghanistan.
The militants, apparently Pakistani Taliban, had kidnapped Abad Khan from Bamburet in Chitral a few days ago. They also took away about 600 goats across the border to Afghanistan. Later, Abad Khan was killed.
Qazi Oushtur said Abad Khan had been slaughtered after being shot in the mouth. “His breast was burned so we buried him within an hour without observing our religious rituals,” he added.
The Kalash priest said the whole village was frightened after seeing the body. “Normally, we mourn beside the body of a dead person for three days and then bury him while firing shots into the air,” he explained.
He added that a religious ceremony would be held on August 27 to mourn his death.A young educated Kalash girl, requesting anonymity, said there were no arrangements for their security. She questioned the presence of the forces in their village, Bamburet. “They (security forces) should have been deployed near the border. Why money is being wasted if they cannot protect us,” the misty-eyed girl asked.
She said the militants had also kidnapped a Greek national from their village few years back and shifted him to the Nuristan province of Afghanistan before releasing him.
A building of the forces, she said, was located at the Chimisam Mountain, but there were no troops in it.“Currently we are at the mercy of the terrorists as the district administration collected weapons from us sometime back,” she asserted. She feared the militants could attack their village anytime.She believed the militants were intentionally targetting the Kalash community.