KARACHI – The problem got so bad the chief minister and governor mulled heading over to Kabul to sort things out. Extortionists in Afghanistan and militants have been using Afghan SIMs to make threatening phone calls to traders in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) bordering Afghanistan. Their threats weren’t empty either. On February 9, they killed businessman Haji Haleem Jan who failed to pay up.
The crime has a subtext—a sense of betrayal. Peshawar businessmen have long played host to the Afghans which is why it bites so much. “I was a youth when my father would generously donate for Afghan refugees in Peshawar who had just escaped the war,” says Sohrab Mohmand, a Peshawar businessman (not his real name). “We welcomed them with open arms but they embraced the people who make threatening calls to us daily.” The fear is so great that he installed several private security checks at his office before you can see him.
He and other traders believe that Afghanistan is allowing this to happen. “Afghanistan is using its soil against the people of Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by giving shelter to militants who are after extortion money and threaten traders here,” says Haji Rahim Gul Afridi, a trader and tribal elder from Jamrud.
The police are more than aware of the trend. KP Inspector-General Nasir Khan Durrani says he has provided a list of more than 225 numbers to the government and suggested it checks their call detail records. “The extortion mafia has been active since 2012,” he adds. “The local groups have been wiped out. Now extortionists from the other side of the Durand line ask traders to provide them money.” Reports suggest more than 160 Afghan SIMs and around a dozen local SIMs have been used. The matter was also taken up by the KP and Fata apex committee in April. “The committee decided to shut down illegal communication towers inside Pakistani territory,” said a statement issued by the ISPR after the meeting. Lawmakers are also concerned. In a written reply to a question from Mufti Fazal Ghafoor, a JUI-F lawmaker, the province’s Home and Tribal Affairs Department noted in May 2016 that extortion was linked to the presence of terrorists in Fata and across the border. This is corroborated by Haji Rahim Gul, whose son was killed in a Taliban attack, has survived two attacks. “I’m constantly receiving TTP calls from Afghanistan,” he says. His home has been turned into a veritable fortress in Jamrud.
There has been a gradual increase in cases. According to the official figures, there were a total of 10 reported cases in 2010, which rose in each following year with a steady uptick: 12, 21, 56 and then about 285 by 2014.
By 2015, however, police claim the figure dropped to 51. But trader representative bodies dispute this, saying that at least 500 of them have received calls so far this year. They say the numbers dropped only because people lost faith in the police. “If we’re not getting [help] what use is it to lodge an FIR,” asks Mohmand. Others add that the police even discourage FIRs.
According to the home department, most of the calls were made from landline numbers in the tribal areas, Afghan SIMs and other un-registered SIMs, whose positions have been traced to Fata. The Tehreek-e-Taliban (Mohmand) which has headquarters in Nangarhar, Afghanistan had set up its extortion collection points in Parachao, Rena and Deka Lalpura, about eight kilometers from the Torkham border.
The proscribed Lashkar-e-Islam of Fata’s Khyber Agency was the most active group before the start of the Zarb-e-Azb military operation to flush out militants, officials say. Before his death last month in Nangarhar, the lashkar’s chief, Mangal Bagh, and his group were kicked out of the tribal areas by the armed forces. This was met with relief from traders, a Peshawar security official claims. Traders endorse this.
Last year in September, at least three police officials were suspended for collecting extortion money from traders in Namak Mandi, Peshawar. But the group currently topping the list is Tehreek-e-Taliban (Mohmand), says a security official, who did not want to be named.
According to reports quoting the Peshawar police, the Islamic Emirate or Afghan Taliban was found to be involved in at least nine cases in Peshawar in 2015. Two of its factions are also among the 12 groups actively engaged in the crime in Peshawar. “The Haqqani network headed by Sirajudin Haqqani and Taliban’s Abu Hurraira group are part of the 12 groups involved in extortion in Peshawar,” a police official was quoted as saying in a daily newspaper.
In 2013, the National Crisis Management Cell sent the KP government a list of 42 groups, including 18 in Peshawar, who were actively extorting from wealthy individuals. The list included the name of Hafiz Gulbahadar group, which was previously involved in fighting against foreign forces in the neighboring country.
Haji Nawaz Khan, a trader whose residence on Peshawar’s outskirts was attacked twice, has gone to court. “The extortionists with Afghanistan SIMs make threatening calls daily,” he submitted in an application to the Peshawar High Court on March 24, this year. “They threaten to kill me, which has not only scared my entire family but has also caused financial losses to my business.” Khan says the police initially felt it was a case of personal enmity. “However, the next day we found a letter demanding Rs30 million,” he says. “They were men of Mangal Bagh, who had been using local SIMs.” To add to the mess, Khan is also receiving extortion calls from Tabidar, a militant associated with Tehreek-e-Taliban (Mohmand) from Afghanistan.
At least half a dozen of traders in Peshawar and its outskirts wish to remain anonymous when speaking about extortion due to fear of a backlash from militants. “We realize that it’s hard for the police to nab the criminals when they enjoy the state patronage of a neighboring country and are stationed outside Pakistan,” says one trader. “But what bothers us is that law enforcers in our country have done nothing to restore our sense of security.” According to reports published in May 2014, a KP Chamber of Commerce and Industry official said at least 150 business professionals had relocated their factories to other parts of the country or had moved abroad.
For his part, SSP Operations Peshawar Abbas Majeed Marwat says the police are unable to make arrests across the border but have sent several local facilitators behind bars. Marwat says his department has also compiled data on facilitators and the law enforcers are keeping an eye on those set free on bail. “We have issued permits for AK-47s to traders who are constantly receiving extortion calls,” he adds.
This is cold comfort to men such a Nawaz Khan, who has been continuously receiving calls from 00933370412685. He has asked the deputy commissioner of Peshawar for a constable’s protection. “We even offered to pay for our own security. Initially we agreed to pay six months of salary, amounting Rs330,000 for two constables in advance but the guards were not provided,” he says. Police say, however, that many traders don’t want to risk being made more visible with police guards. According to Capital City Police Chief Mubarak Zeb Khan, they have received 100 complaints from traders and have assigned policemen to 21 but the rest refused the offer. Nawaz Khan provides a counter argument: A trader needs to get around but when his movement is restricted his business starts declining. And that is their Catch-22.
Naimat Khan is based in Karachi and tweets at @NKMalazai
The crime has a subtext—a sense of betrayal. Peshawar businessmen have long played host to the Afghans which is why it bites so much. “I was a youth when my father would generously donate for Afghan refugees in Peshawar who had just escaped the war,” says Sohrab Mohmand, a Peshawar businessman (not his real name). “We welcomed them with open arms but they embraced the people who make threatening calls to us daily.” The fear is so great that he installed several private security checks at his office before you can see him.
He and other traders believe that Afghanistan is allowing this to happen. “Afghanistan is using its soil against the people of Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by giving shelter to militants who are after extortion money and threaten traders here,” says Haji Rahim Gul Afridi, a trader and tribal elder from Jamrud.
The police are more than aware of the trend. KP Inspector-General Nasir Khan Durrani says he has provided a list of more than 225 numbers to the government and suggested it checks their call detail records. “The extortion mafia has been active since 2012,” he adds. “The local groups have been wiped out. Now extortionists from the other side of the Durand line ask traders to provide them money.” Reports suggest more than 160 Afghan SIMs and around a dozen local SIMs have been used. The matter was also taken up by the KP and Fata apex committee in April. “The committee decided to shut down illegal communication towers inside Pakistani territory,” said a statement issued by the ISPR after the meeting. Lawmakers are also concerned. In a written reply to a question from Mufti Fazal Ghafoor, a JUI-F lawmaker, the province’s Home and Tribal Affairs Department noted in May 2016 that extortion was linked to the presence of terrorists in Fata and across the border. This is corroborated by Haji Rahim Gul, whose son was killed in a Taliban attack, has survived two attacks. “I’m constantly receiving TTP calls from Afghanistan,” he says. His home has been turned into a veritable fortress in Jamrud.
There has been a gradual increase in cases. According to the official figures, there were a total of 10 reported cases in 2010, which rose in each following year with a steady uptick: 12, 21, 56 and then about 285 by 2014.
By 2015, however, police claim the figure dropped to 51. But trader representative bodies dispute this, saying that at least 500 of them have received calls so far this year. They say the numbers dropped only because people lost faith in the police. “If we’re not getting [help] what use is it to lodge an FIR,” asks Mohmand. Others add that the police even discourage FIRs.
According to the home department, most of the calls were made from landline numbers in the tribal areas, Afghan SIMs and other un-registered SIMs, whose positions have been traced to Fata. The Tehreek-e-Taliban (Mohmand) which has headquarters in Nangarhar, Afghanistan had set up its extortion collection points in Parachao, Rena and Deka Lalpura, about eight kilometers from the Torkham border.
The proscribed Lashkar-e-Islam of Fata’s Khyber Agency was the most active group before the start of the Zarb-e-Azb military operation to flush out militants, officials say. Before his death last month in Nangarhar, the lashkar’s chief, Mangal Bagh, and his group were kicked out of the tribal areas by the armed forces. This was met with relief from traders, a Peshawar security official claims. Traders endorse this.
Last year in September, at least three police officials were suspended for collecting extortion money from traders in Namak Mandi, Peshawar. But the group currently topping the list is Tehreek-e-Taliban (Mohmand), says a security official, who did not want to be named.
According to reports quoting the Peshawar police, the Islamic Emirate or Afghan Taliban was found to be involved in at least nine cases in Peshawar in 2015. Two of its factions are also among the 12 groups actively engaged in the crime in Peshawar. “The Haqqani network headed by Sirajudin Haqqani and Taliban’s Abu Hurraira group are part of the 12 groups involved in extortion in Peshawar,” a police official was quoted as saying in a daily newspaper.
In 2013, the National Crisis Management Cell sent the KP government a list of 42 groups, including 18 in Peshawar, who were actively extorting from wealthy individuals. The list included the name of Hafiz Gulbahadar group, which was previously involved in fighting against foreign forces in the neighboring country.
Haji Nawaz Khan, a trader whose residence on Peshawar’s outskirts was attacked twice, has gone to court. “The extortionists with Afghanistan SIMs make threatening calls daily,” he submitted in an application to the Peshawar High Court on March 24, this year. “They threaten to kill me, which has not only scared my entire family but has also caused financial losses to my business.” Khan says the police initially felt it was a case of personal enmity. “However, the next day we found a letter demanding Rs30 million,” he says. “They were men of Mangal Bagh, who had been using local SIMs.” To add to the mess, Khan is also receiving extortion calls from Tabidar, a militant associated with Tehreek-e-Taliban (Mohmand) from Afghanistan.
At least half a dozen of traders in Peshawar and its outskirts wish to remain anonymous when speaking about extortion due to fear of a backlash from militants. “We realize that it’s hard for the police to nab the criminals when they enjoy the state patronage of a neighboring country and are stationed outside Pakistan,” says one trader. “But what bothers us is that law enforcers in our country have done nothing to restore our sense of security.” According to reports published in May 2014, a KP Chamber of Commerce and Industry official said at least 150 business professionals had relocated their factories to other parts of the country or had moved abroad.
For his part, SSP Operations Peshawar Abbas Majeed Marwat says the police are unable to make arrests across the border but have sent several local facilitators behind bars. Marwat says his department has also compiled data on facilitators and the law enforcers are keeping an eye on those set free on bail. “We have issued permits for AK-47s to traders who are constantly receiving extortion calls,” he adds.
This is cold comfort to men such a Nawaz Khan, who has been continuously receiving calls from 00933370412685. He has asked the deputy commissioner of Peshawar for a constable’s protection. “We even offered to pay for our own security. Initially we agreed to pay six months of salary, amounting Rs330,000 for two constables in advance but the guards were not provided,” he says. Police say, however, that many traders don’t want to risk being made more visible with police guards. According to Capital City Police Chief Mubarak Zeb Khan, they have received 100 complaints from traders and have assigned policemen to 21 but the rest refused the offer. Nawaz Khan provides a counter argument: A trader needs to get around but when his movement is restricted his business starts declining. And that is their Catch-22.
Naimat Khan is based in Karachi and tweets at @NKMalazai