Ibrahim Shinwari

Thousands of men, women and children have fled Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) successfully gained control of the area last week. Ibrahim Shinwari reports on the battle, and the lives, forgotten by a Pakistan in the grips of election fever. Ali Akbar Shalobar, 35, was left with no other choice than to escape his native village of Warsak, when he saw marauding Taliban insurgents executing innocent residents who had surrendered to them after they took over the Ansaar ul Islam (AI) controlled areas of Tirah Valley on March 18. “I shouted at my three children and my wife, and told them to close their eyes or look the other way when the Taliban slit the throat of one of our neighbors and set his house on fire”, Ali Akbar said with an emotional voice, choking as he narrated Taliban atrocities against the innocent people of Tirah. Leaving behind everything except for his wife’s jewelry, which he hurriedly collected, he, along with his wife and three children, walked on foot for three days and managed to reach Dabori area in Orakzai Agency via the Arhanga Pass in order to save their lives and their honour. He […]