PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Six months ago, Fahimuddin was a Pakistani businessman and local councillor. Today he heads a private militia using rocket launchers, guns, grenades and daggers to repel Islamist attacks.
Fed up with kidnappings, bombings and rising fears of militancy around Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar, the 40-year-old packed up a prosperous property business and took matters into his own hands.
He formed a lashkar, a traditional militia raised by tribesmen in this part of the world for centuries, armed and mobilised temporarily to settle disputes.
It's a dangerous business. Fahimuddin says his men kill assailants. He says he survived two car bombs and escaped a kidnapping attempt, but nothing deters him from staying to flush out Islamist radicals.
"How can I leave my family, my village and my children? I will fight all those who attack my village whether they are Taliban, Lashkar-e-Islam or anyone else," he said at his home in Bazed Khel where Peshawar runs into Khyber.
For more on this article, please click on the following link: Private armies on frontline of Pakistan war: AFP
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment