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LANDI KOTAL, May 16: Activists of a newly formed moral brigade – the Ulema Committee – burnt television sets, record players, cassettes and CDs on Friday, which had been seized from local markets and quarters of paramilitary personnel during raids.
The burning of music related materials by the committee was the first incident in Landi Kotal.
A spokesman for the Ulema Committee, Farmanulah, told journalists that besides music centres, some TV sets, CDs and recorders had been recovered from residential quarters of the Khassadar force. He said that the Khassadar force had been warned against use of musical instruments in the future. Exemplary punishments would be given to those who defied the warnings, he added.
They activists also seized indoor sports materials including carom boards, which were also burnt along with the electronic goods. The confiscated items were put to torch in front of the Masjid-i-Quba after Friday prayers. Hundreds of local residents were present on the occasion.
20 HELD: Jamrud political authorities arrested at least 20 persons and sealed a dozen shops, allegedly selling contraband, during raid on the Wazir Dhand market in Jamrud on Friday.
Jamrud Khassadar Line Officer Gula Jan said that the arrested men also included some alleged customers who had come to the market.
He, however, insisted that most of the shops, dealing in contrabands, had already been closed as a local jirga had imposed ban on sale of all sorts of contrabands in the market.
The Bara based-armed group, Lashkar-i-Islam, launched a blistering attack on Wazir Dhand market on April 16 with group chief Mangal Bagh pledging to wipe out the illegal business of liquor, hashish, heroin and other contrabands from the area.
He had accused an influential family of the area of patronising the illegal trade. Mr Bagh had also accused the local political administration of not taking any action against those involved in the ‘immoral’ business.
Many in the area believe that the Friday operation, by the administration, was aimed at showing their efficiency rather then rooting out the illegal trade. Line Officer Gula Jan told Dawn that his team of the Khassadar force could not recover ‘presentable’ quantity of contrabands during the raid.
