<p>By Ghafar Ali Khan</p>
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PESHAWAR: Local Taliban handed over control of Darra Adam Khel, a tribal area some 35 kilometers south of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) capital city Peshawar, to local administration after a jirga (council of tribal elders) assured militants that no criminal and ‘un-Islamic’ activities in the area would be allowed in future.</p>
<p>Darra Adamkhel is famous for illegal gun manufacturing and notorious for kidnapping for ransom and stolen car. Under the agreement reached between the militants and the jirga members, Taliban have to give up control of Darra Adam Khel but they would retake control of the area if the jirga or the local administration failed to curb crimes and ‘un-Islamic” activities in the area.<br />
On August 10 Taliban have blown up eight houses of alleged criminals in a “drive against anti-social elements”. The Taliban also recovered four persons, who had been kidnapped for ransom, and 18 stolen cars from the hideouts of the alleged criminals.</p>
<p>In the campaign Taliban had killed four criminals including the criminal gang leader. The local administration failed to take the control of destroyed houses of the alleged criminals from the Taliban.</p>
<p>On August 13 a jirga consisting of tribal elders, local clerics and officials of the local administration held negotiations with the Taliban and assured them that they would not let anyone from the alleged criminals’ families occupy their destroyed houses for five years and would curb criminal activities in the area. The local administration also assured the Taliban that they may use force against criminals if needed. A member of the jirga said that the jirga had released nine criminals who had been ‘arrested’ by masked Taliban during their weeklong ‘anti-criminal’ campaign in Darra Adam Khel.</p>
<p>The Taliban had also given up control of one of the country’s busiest Highway—Indus Highway—which is being used for transportation of goods to northern part of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban have banned music, video centers and other un-Islamic activities.</p>
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