In a searing denunciation of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a tribal leader has publicly accused the group of extortion, terrorism, and child killings, warning that any individual found facilitating their activities through the collection of ushr (religious tax) will face heavy fines and demolition of property.
Holding up a slip containing what he claimed were the phone numbers of TTP operatives and senior leaders including the group’s chief, Noor Wali Mehsud—the speaker challenged the Taliban’s leadership to explain whether they had dispatched fighters merely to loot their own people after years in exile.
“These men spent 12 to 13 years outside our land, and now they return demanding money at gunpoint? Just days ago, a young girl lost her life because we refused to pay extortion. Is this what they’ve come back for—blood and bribes?” he declared.
He said Taliban-linked militants had repeatedly demanded extortion, fired upon homes when refused, and murdered children in cold blood. “Even when we pay them, they wait for us outside mosques—and shoot our children dead,” he said. “Is this their version of Shariah? This is savagery not Islam.”
The tribal leader issued a blistering rebuke of local inaction, accusing both the community and traditional maliks of cowardice in the face of a rising tide of militancy. “Three or four armed men walk into our villages and we, a nation of thousands, say nothing. Why such disgraceful silence? Why this surrender of honour?”
Turning his ire toward self-declared peace committees and so-called tribal lashkars, he said, “I hold the elders responsible too—those who sit comfortably and announce committees have been formed, while our children are slaughtered in the streets. This betrayal will not be tolerated any longer.”
Calling on his people to rise in defiance, he urged them not to abandon their dignity. “Shoot the lashkar, shoot the committee, if they stand with the enemy—but do not give up your honour.”
In a final ultimatum, he warned, “From today onward, if anyone is found carrying a Taliban-issued ushr slip, they will be fined, and their house will be razed to the ground. No exceptions.”
The speech has struck a chord across the tribal belt, where public frustration with the resurgence of Taliban-linked violence is growing. With reports of rising extortion demands, targeted killings, and fear gripping entire communities, the call for action is gaining momentum—raising critical questions for both state authorities and local powerbrokers accused of complicity through silence.
