MANSEHRA, Feb 5: The remnants of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have called for enforcement of Sharia in the recently-created Torgar district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while people want the government to exempt the area from all taxes and retain its centuries-old jirga system.

“We are not against the development of the area and its people, but whatever happens here should be in accordance with the Sharia laws as Taliban will soon regain their lost ground in Malakand, Swat and Kala Dhaka (Torgar),” said Mohammad Iqbal, a local Taliban leader, while speaking to this correspondent at a mountainous area of Torgar.

The tribal status of Kala Dhaka, a tribal belt of Mansehra district, was changed at a cost of over Rs6 billion to eliminate the safe havens of miscreants, who used the area for carrying out subversive activities in Hazara and other parts of the province. The Indus river separates Malakand from Torgar. The plan to change the tribal status of Kala Dhaka was floated by security forces engaged in operation and the provincial government implemented it to get rid of miscreants and put the area on the path of development.

Iqbal claimed that there were very few people who supported the government's plan to change the tribal status of Kala Dhaka (Torgar). He said that like in Malakand the government should also enforce Sharia in Torgar. He said that their struggle for enforcement of Sharia would continue, particularly in Malakand and Kala Dhaka.

The elders and other people who were part of the process to decide the future of Kala Dhaka told this correspondent at a jirga in Torgar the other day that they were enthusiastic about the change of tribal status of their area. They said that the jirga had given a decree against miscreants and it was why nobody provided them shelter in the area. They said that they had presented eight-point charter of demands before the Peshawar jirga, which was accepted. Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti had chaired the jirga.—Nisar Ahmad Khan