Authorities in the Northwest Frontier province have invoked an old colonial British law to punish a tribe after five of its members kidnapped and killed a senior government official. The retribution by the authorities on the Shaluber Qamberkhe I tribe in the Khyber tribal agency bordering Afghanistan is the most severe in more than a decade. Soon after the body of the kidnapped provincial income tax commissioner, Yunis Abid, was found in a ditch in the Khyber agency, the authorities decided to invoke what is known as the Territorial and Collective Responsibility Law. A meeting called by the provincial Governor passed the decree. It says that since the tribal elders have failed to apprehend the five culprits, the whole tribe will have to face the punishment. The five suspects have been declared state criminals, and a huge reward - 2.5 million Pakistani rupees (HK$550,000) per person - has been announced to bring them in 'dead or alive'. Under the decree the Government has withdrawn honorary titles and monetary privileges of more than 400 tribal elders, and is demolishing 16 houses which belong to suspects and their relatives. So far ten houses have been demolished.
