Thaindian News

Islamabad, Mar 11(ANI): The head of a pro-government militia fighting the Taliban in northwest Pakistan has declared to end all cooperation with the government, accusing it of failing to provide enough support.

Earlier this week, the Taliban bombed a funeral procession for the wife of a tribal elder, hitting the Lashkar- an anti-Taliban force that was set up with government support.

The Taliban said the bombing was in retaliation against the militia’s support of the continuing anti-Taliban operation by Pakistan’s security forces.

Adezai Qaumi Lashkar chief Dilawar Khan complained that while the militia had been fighting the Taliban, the government has not paid any compensation to the families of militia members killed by the Taliban in recent years.

“We have lost 47 men in three years. Twenty-six of them were killed in suicide attacks, others fell in targeted attacks. Some of our prominent members have been killed in remote-controlled explosions, or shot outside the village mosque or their homes. The government has paid compensation to the heirs of not a single one of these people,” the BBC quoted Khan, as saying.

” Eight days ago more than 100 Taliban launched an attack on my house and shelled the entire village with mortars and rockets. We fought them and repulsed them. Later we demanded of the government to provide us with ammunition and other things as we were running low on these things, but they did not listen,” he added.

Khan said the militia would pursue its own agenda from now on, which could mean the force stops attacking the Taliban as militants seek to gain influence in the troubled region.

“We are ending all co-operation with the government. We will not forgive Taliban for the death of our people, but we will avenge these deaths in our own way now,” he said. (ANI)