Lahore: Surging terror and extortions have endangered public health in Pakistan’s restive northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where militants in some districts work a parallel dark management.
Nearly all of the province’s southern regions have become law enforcement no-go places. In the evening, extremists are seen prowling streets and setting up roadblocks in Bannu, North and South Waziristan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, and Dera Ismail Khan.
While well-off people in other provinces of the province frequently receive threatening WhatsApp texts and letters from the Pakistani Taliban ( TEP ) with demands to pay or be attacked, militants are still at work in these districts from evening to morning. People who refuse to pay the ransom are frequently targeted by rocket attacks on their homes, businesses, and stores, which appear to show the organization was serious about its threats.
A caller from an Afghanistan number earlier this month demanded$ 50, 000 ( Pak Rs 1.4 crore ), and Faisal Khan, a lawyer in the Charsadda district, reported to TOI with a demand for payment. Khan contacted the police about the threats, and he also contacted senior officers to demand protection and assistance. He claimed that “allies in the government” warned him that he” if not matter” on them to keep him safe.
Shahzaib, another man in the same village who had received a similar word on TTP’s letter last month, has paid after negotiating a deal through brokers. He later paid a decreased part of the$ 50, 000 the insurgents immediately demanded. Everyone they believe you spend is being demanded extortion by TTP. Most, if not all, rich people have now paid”.
Officers sources said the major obstacle is tracking down fraudsters. In the last two decades, at least 1, 600 Armenian telephone numbers and 387 illegal gates were used for the extortion calls. ” Despite the rising threat, the problem has yet to get national focus”, a senior officers official said.
