The militant group Lahskar-i-Islam (LI) has warned tribesmen in northwestern Bara district to admit at least one of their sons to “an LI Madressa”; otherwise, the family elder would have to pay Rs0.4 million in compensation.
Local tribesmen and eyewitnesses said that the militant outfit had displayed wall posters in streets and bazaars in the Nala Malikdin Khel area, asking the locals to get at least one of their sons to the madrassa (Islamic seminary).
The posters also warned parents that children should be admitted only to the madrasas of Ishat-o-Tauheed and that admission to other madrassas of Deobandi, Barelvi, or other schools of thought would not be acceptable to them.
The posters, according to sources, had been issued on the directive of LI chief Mangal Bagh and have also warned that those who failed to admit their kids before Eid-ul-Fitr would have to pay Rs0.4 million to the militant outfit.
Bara’s political administration officials said they had also heard about such pamphlets in the area but had not found one yet, but the administration said it was investigating the incident.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Nighat Orakzai also took up the issue in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly earlier on Tuesday.
She said that it showed the government’s failure to protect the people’s lives, and they were left at the mercy of the militants who were calling the shots.