GHALANAI: A pro-government tribal elder was killed in a blast near his house in the Lower Cheenari area of Mohmand Agency close to the Pak-Afghan border on Sunday.

Assistant Political Agent of Upper Mohmand Haseebur Rehman Khalil said that an improvised explosive device was planted by unidentified men near the house of Malik Dara Khan in Safi tehsil, some 70km from the agency headquarters of Ghalanai, which went off when he was coming out of his home.

Dara Khan received multiple injuries and was taken to the agency headquarters hospital where he died during treatment.

Dara Khan was a former head of a peace committee in the area.

After the blast, security personnel conducted a search operation in Cheenari and adjacent areas and took 33 tribesmen into custody under the collective territorial responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations.

Sources said the detained people had been shifted to the Ghalanai lockup where they were being interrogated.

The local administration and security officials told the Safi tribesmen in a jirga on Nov 7 to take action against militants and their facilitators or face action. The jirga was also attended by Dara Khan and other tribal elders.

They asked the tribal elders to fulfil their territorial collective responsibility and take stern action against the facilitators of militants in the area.

According to the political administration, at least 91 incidents of IED blasts occurred in one year in the tribal region and 38 of them took place in the Safi tehsil alone.

In a warning, the assistant political agent had already asked the tribesmen that fine would be imposed on them if any such blast occurred in their area again.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2016