Taliban threaten Kalash way of life

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani government is taking measures to protect religious minorities threatened by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

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  Kalash girls participate in an annual festival in Chitral District in December 2013. The Pakistani Taliban has threatened theare threatening the non-Muslim Kalash tribe to members with death unless itheyt converts to Islam. [Hasan Khan]

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The TTP February 2 released a video threatening the Kalash tribe and Ismaili sect members (also known as Aga Khanis) in the Chitral Valley with death if they failed to convert to Islam.

Protecting minorities

The video prompted Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani to issue an order directing the government to protect the tribe and the sect against TTP attacks.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial government is following the judge's order and is working to secure the area, KP Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said.

Army, police and paramilitary forces have been deployed to the vallaey, he said, adding that the forces already were on high alert because of other threats.

And authorities have stepped up intelligence collection to thwart attacks, security officials said.

The army and other security forces are manning 16 check-posts to prevent the Taliban in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, from crossinng into Chitral to terrorise the minorities, KP Advocate General Abdul Latif Yousufzai said in a written report submitted to the Supreme Court February 20, Dawn reported March 13.

Many residents derive assurance from the existing security measures.

"There were already elaborate security arrangements in place after last year's attacks on a security check-post in Arando … following the orders of the Supreme Court, more measures have been taken," Chitral social worker Gul Hamaad Farooqi said.

Forced conversion 'un-Islamic'

Jamat-e-Islami leader and former National Assembly member Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and others condemned the TTP, calling their threats un-Islamic.

"Islam is a religion of peace, and converting somebody to Islam by force is against the spirit of religion and injunctions of the Koran," Chitrali said.

Ikram Chaudhry, a Supreme Court lawyer, termed the threat unlawful and unconstitutional.

"The militant threats to convert the Kalash people to Islam by using force are in violation of articles 9, 20 and 36 of the Constitution of Pakistan," he told Central Asia Online.

Fear persists

Despite the federal and provincial efforts to protect the minorities, fears among their members remain.

"We are terrified, and the people have confined themselves to their homes," Methoyar Khan, a Kalash tribesman, said.

"After sunset, nobody leaves home for fear of attack," he told Central Asia Online.

The threats to the Kalash people violate local culture, tradition and religion, Nadir Khan, an elder from the Boni area, said.

"It is important to take these threats seriously," he told Central Asia Online. "Militants proved their capabilities in the past for reaching their targets."

Nadir noted the steady dwindling of the Kalash population in recent decades, which has compounded its anxiety.

"Many of the young and educated have left the country and settled abroad, while others converted to Islam," he said.

The once-ruling tribe of Chitral and the northern regions has shrunk to about 3,500 members.

"The fear is quite natural. … I personally called Kalash and Ismaili leaders and assured them of our support," Chitrali said, noting that the threats have indeed created an "atmosphere of mistrust."