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New video on Taliban justice surfaces

February 25, 2010 03:43 IST

A new video has surfaced showing the Taliban beheading, shooting and whipping tribesmen in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The new video comes even as the world condemned the Taliban for beheading two Sikhs in the same area a few days back.

This video, released from the Orakzai agency -- a stronghold of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- shows four persons being penalised by the Taliban court. A cleric is shown issuing decrees. Some locals identified the cleric as Maulana Tofaan, a senior TTP leader in the area, while others identified him as someone from Waziristan.

In the first case, a man, said to be a member of the Shiite force, is brought before the Taliban court. According to the Taliban, he is an infidel who fought against the Taliban; he need not to live anymore and should be slaughtered. Simultaneously, he is laid on to the ground and a militant comes forward and slits his throat.

In the second case, a tribesman confesses before the court to having killed two persons. 'My death penalty would also help the rest of my family to lead a tension free life,' the murderer says in the video footage. The Taliban court awards him death penalty; he is shot in his head.

In the third case, a tribesman charged with being an American informer is brought before the court. He allegedly guided the Americans in locating key Taliban leaders and other Al-Qaeda members' hideouts to facilitate drone attacks. The man is killed using explosives.

The fourth case involved an Afghan youth, who was whipped for teasing girls.

Tahir Ali