500 Khasadars absent from the service for fear of militants

Political Agent of Khyber Agency on Friday confirmed that at least 500 personnel of Khasadar force abandoned their duties on threats from outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh. While criticizing the security forces operation on his illegal FM radio channel, Mangal Bagh had threatened to attack members of parliament, security forces personnel and Khasadars if they did not resign. As a result, 500 Khasadars out of a total of 1100 did not appear today. Talking to Dunya News, Political Agent Khyber Agency Tariq Hayat Khan urged the Khasadars who obey Mangal Bagh to get salary from him instead of the government. Tariq Hayat said the government was not ready to negotiate on the issue.