MIRANSHAH:
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a prominent tribal elder, designated by
the government as the chief of North Waziristan, along with his driver
and a bodyguard in Miranshah, North Waziristan Agency, on Thursday.
A
senior government official said Malik Qadir Khan was on his way home in
a car when armed men opened fire on them near the Chashma Pul.It is the
same place where a senior local journalist Malik Mumtaz Khan was killed
by unidentified people two years ago.
Malik Qadir Khan
belonged to the Madakhel tribe. He was among the leading tribal elders
and someone who tried to maintain peace in North Waziristan. He was the
head of the tribal Jirga constituted by Maulana Fazlur Rahman’s JUI-F to
promote peace talks with the militants. However, the government of
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif didn’t use the services of the tribal Jirga
much to the annoyance of Maulana Fazlur Rahman.
Due to
security concerns and following the targeted killing of tribal elders,
Malik Qadir Khan had shifted his family from his native North Waziristan
to Lakki Marwat district in the southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a
few years ago.
Most of his tribe continued to live in
North Waziristan, a volatile tribal region where local and foreign
militants are active.“He used to come to Waziristan to help settle local
disputes and would return home after spending some time,” the
government official said. Pleading anonymity, he said the three men died
on the spot.
A local elder said the killing of the noted
tribal elder, Malik Qadir Khan, had contributed to the concerns of the
people in North Waziristan. “He was widely respected and had no enmity.
We don’t know who would have done it,” he said.The government had given
Malik Qadir Khan the status of the chief of Waziristan as he wielded
considerable influence among the tribes.
