KHAR, Nov 23 The chapter of much-trumpeted lashkar in Mamond area of restive Bajaur tribal region was closed on Sunday when Taliban militants, brandishing weapons, took control of abandoned checkposts established by tribesmen to check their activities.

Militants started patrolling on roads in those areas where tribal lashkar had recently taken actions against them, sources said. “Militants began a house to house search of pro-government tribal elders, destroyed their households, set them on fire and misbehaved with inmates in Kharkey area on Saturday after Maghrib prayer,” sources added.

They said Taliban warned the residents through loudspeakers that those tribesmen who were found involved in anti-Taliban activities or who took part in government sponsored lashkar would be responsible for Taliban action against them.

A tribal elder who reached here from the troubled area on Sunday told Dawn that around 800 to 900 fresh lot of Taliban entered Mamond area and resumed their activities. “It seems that they have shifted their command and control system here and established headquarters,” he said, adding that most probably Damadola or Gatkai would be their new headquarters.

“The tribal people who have sided with the lashkar are in hot water today,” another tribal elder requesting anonymity told Dawn. He said that all of them had gone under ground as Taliban militants were hunting them like hounds.

The pro-government tribal elders of Mamond tehsil including Oryazai and Barozai tribes had organised lashkar to quell militancy in their respective areas. They had succeeded to some extent in flushing out Taliban from their areas.

These elders also inspired people living in other areas of the agency to stand against militants, sources said, adding they urged the people to take arms instead of becoming fodder of fighting between Taliban militants and security forces.

Sensing danger of the lashkar, Tehrik-i-Taliban leadership aimed their guns at those tribal leaders who were performing key role in the process. They either killed or kidnapped most of the tribal elders. Chief of lashkars of Barozai tribe Malak Rehmatullah and Orizai tribe Fazal Maabud were also killed by Taliban. The acting chief of Orizai tribe escaped from Taliban captivity and took refuge with political administration in regional headquarters Khar.

“The Laskar is no more in a position to compete Taliban. Most of the elders have gone underground fearing target killing. Only few are there to confront them. Some of the tribes also take U-turn and disowned the lashkar,” Malak Shah Tamas Khan, a member of Orizai Laskar, said.

He said that the people of Badan were still in forefront despite the fact that their chieftain Rehmatullah was killed in a suicide attack in a mosque and no militant dared to enter their soil but the retreat by some tribes and lack of government`s cooperation turned circumstances against the lashkar.

Hundreds of local people have also left their household and cattle heads and started migration to safer places to save their skin from Taliban backlash. The panic-hit people see no light at the end of the tunnel as militants in a large number have reached their houses.

A 50-year-old dejected Akber Khan, who along with his family members made his way to reach Khar on Sunday, told Dawn “The residents have been left on the mercy of Taliban. If Taliban forgive them then too their lives are not safe as jet-fighter and helicopter gunships would ruin their villages and towns.”

Meanwhile, five militants were killed and two others injured as jet-fighters pounded militant hideouts in Nawagai and Mamond tehsils on Sunday.

The security forces also targeted locations of militants with artillery shelling and claimed destroying huge quantity of arms dumped in the hideouts.