TANK, April 22: Militants known as local Taliban led by fugitive Abdullah Mahsud have called upon tribesmen in the Frontier Region of Tank district to join them in ‘jihad’ against allied forces in Afghanistan.

They held a meeting in the Jandola High School grounds on Friday and announced that they would be going to Afghanistan on Saturday for the jihad. They urged tribesmen to join them.

According to an official letter sent by the assistant political agent, Jandola, Frontier Region Tank, to the district coordination officer of Tank, the Taliban meeting was presided over by Asmatullah Bhitanni and was attended by 300 people and 60 activists from the Bhittani and Mahsud tribes. The Taliban announced that they had put off for two months enforcement of their March 31 decision requiring all men to grow beard.

The letter said that the Taliban had also fixed territorial limits for murders and other criminal activities in the Jandola Bazaar and announced that any person violating the decision would be fined and jailed.