Peshawar: As its “large-scale operation” in Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province continued for the 5th day, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) today ridiculed the Pakistan Army for using locals to ferry their weapons and other equipment and said the forces are “humiliating” the public by engaging in such acts.
The Islamist organisation also said that “time is not far” when the people of Chitral would be liberated from “these killers” (Pakistan Army) and “dollar-devotee Generals”.
“Watched the videos circulating on social media where the Chitrali brothers were seen transporting the army’s weapons and other equipment to the battlefield on animals and on their shoulders,” TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurasani said in a statement.
Addressing the Pakistan army, the TTP said, “If you can’t do enough to move your equipment from the cantonments and depots to the battlefield, then what is the use of grabbing 85% of the budget from the national treasury?
“And if you can do this, then do it yourself. Why are you humiliating the public by getting in this way?”
The spokesman was commenting on videos circulated by the pro-Army social media handles wherein local people are seen carrying heavy weaponry by themselves or on mules.
“Our experience is that during the war, the army forcibly takes such work from the people, by which it wants to convince the people that they are in their favor,” Khurasani said.
By doing so, the Pakistan army is trying to portray that the common people are working with it because of their love for it, he said.
“Pakistani brothers cannot think of loving the (Pakistan) army in the current situation,” the TTP spokesman said.
The TTP said it realizes that the “Chitrali brothers” must be “helpless in front of the occupying forces” and hence it has “sympathies” for them.
“Your joining hands with our enemy in a situation of compulsion is like eating pork in an emergency. Therefore, in this situation we consider you being coerced,” the spokesman said.
However, he sent out a reassuring message to the people of Chitral, saying “The time is not far when you will be freed from the torture of these hired killers and dollar-devotee Generals.”
TTP launched, what it called “a large-scale operation”, on September 6 against the Pakistani forces in Chitral district bordering Afghanistan.
According to reports, it has taken control of several parts of the district after killing and injuring many soldiers and forcing others to flee.
With the Pakistani armed forces unable to move around in the district because of the TTP’s dominance, it has employed local people to ferry their equipment from one place to another, thinking that Islamist organisation would not target them.
