PESHAWAR, May 19: Elders of the Shalobar sub-clan of the Afridi tribe on Saturday called upon the NWFP governor to end what he called a parallel government being run by the Lashkar-i-Islam in the Khyber agency.

Speaking at a press conference at the Peshawar press club, Waris Khan, Tajul Malook, Azizur Rehman and Abdul Wahid alleged that hundreds of armed activists of the Lashkar-i-Islami stormed Haji Jamal Baz Kalae area on Friday night and terrorised residents of the area.

They said the Lashkar men looted and burned houses and forced women and children to flee the area.

They said the political administration had lost its writ in the area.

They said that the Lashkar had been operating an FM radio and fanning hatred among the tribesmen for the last 18 months.

The government said that neither the federal nor the local authorities had tried to investigate the matter, which showed that it was a deliberate move to harass people.

They said that activists of the Lashkar had closed public and private schools and colleges in the agency.

They said that students could not appear in examinations owing to lawlessness in the area.

They said that the Lashkar activists had also forcibly blocked different roads to extort money from the truckers moving between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

They said that the Surghar area had been converted into a safe haven for smugglers.

They said that the FC and the political administration were not cooperating with each other due to some differences.

They said the lawlessness, which had engulfed the agency, could spill over to the settled areas of Peshawar.

They urged the NWFP governor to take action against the culprits within a week, otherwise, the tribesmen would themselves teach a lesson to criminals.