Chief of Mashwani tribe back in his hometown only to be buried

TIMERGARA, April 13: The news of killing of Malik Mohammad Zarin in a suicide attack in Kunar province of Afghanistan on Wednesday spread like a jungle fire in the entire Lower Dir district, but many people were not ready to believe it. However, the news was confirmed when bodies of the influential tribal elder and his son were brought to their hometown Miskini, Jandul in the afternoon from Afghanistan. He was killed along with 10 other tribal elders when a suicide bomber entered a village council's meeting, hugged him and detonated his vest full of explosives, sources said. The incident occurred when the meeting was about to end, they added. Ten people were killed and seven others injured in the attack. Haji Lal Zada, a cousin of the deceased, told Dawn that Malik Zarin, who remained head of the Mashwani tribe for the last 40 years, would be buried in Jandul on Thursday. "We are making necessary arrangements for his funeral prayer," he said. Malik Zarin, former governor of Kunar province, who also remained minister for forests in Afghanistan for some time, had dual citizenship of Afghanistan and Pakistan. A source close to him told this reporter that he had also American citizenship. "By birth he belonged to Bin-Shahi area, a border village with Afghanistan, where he owned lands and properties mainly in Maskini Darra, Sadbar Kallay, Mayar and Samar Bagh," Hidayatullah, one of his close aides, told Dawn by telephone. Malik Zarin, 78, had married four times. He contracted his last marriage with a young girl few months ago. He left behind three wives and three sons, besides scores of grandsons. No one in Jandul was ready to believe that Malik Zarin had been killed, said Fateh Mohammad, a local. Malik Zarin, a tribal elder and guerrilla commander, had great influence in this part of Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. He lost one of his sons Raees Khan when a watchman shot him dead at Asmar district of Kunar province in Afghanistan few years ago. His son Zahir Shah was also killed with him in the Wednesday's suicide blast at Asmar, Mr Hidayat said. His other son Ayub Khan was elected nazim of Maskini Darra union council in 2001. Malik Zarin led his own militia in Kunar province when the former USSR invaded Afghanistan, said a former jihadi commander Naseeb Rawan. He said that Malik Zarin and his militia had given tough time to Soviet forces in Kunar. The deceased, according to Mr Hidayat, had very close relations with former Afghan president Sibghatullah Mujjaddidi. He was a pro-government tribal elder and the present Afghan President Hamid Karzai also respected him, he said. He also got freed more than 150 Pakistani prisoners, who had gone to Afghanistan with Maulana Sufi Mohammad to fight against Nato forces, during the Karzai's previous regime. According to his close friends Malik Zarin was the first person in Jandol to persuade Sawar Khan, a brigadier of Pak Army, and deputy commissioner of Dir Taj Mohammad in 1976 to build a link road to Bin-Shahi to connect the area with Afghanistan. They said that he had survived another assassination attempt earlier. "Though he had some personal feuds too, but none of his enemies could dare to attack him," they said. Remembering achievements of Malik Zarin, a resident of Maskini Darra, Qari Asmat, said that because of his bravery, courage and wisdom the whole area of Jandul remained peaceful as none of the militants dared enter it.