In a gruesome incident in the tribal areas in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province a woman and two men were brutally stoned and shot to death.

Hundreds of tribesmen watched the executions carried out by the pro-Taliban Lashkar-i-Islam group on Wednesday in th etribal area bordering Afghanistan. They were earlier caught by the group which found them guilty of adultery after investigations.

They had been abducted by a group led by cleric Mangal Bagh who raided their house, residents in the Bara region said.

‘We had reports about the killings, but we do not interfere in the matters related to tribal customs and traditions’ an official of the local administration said. He also said ‘Pakistani laws do not apply as the tribal agencies are semi-autonomous.

The region has become restive in recent times, as the influence of Taliban has penetrated into the tribal villages. The militant group wants to impose what it calls Islamic Law in the society. Sharia, a compilation of traditional Muslim laws, prescribes death by stoning as punishment for adultery.

Pakistan’s under-developed tribal areas have become a haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who flee Afghanistan, unable to effectively resist and win the US-led forces there. The Taliban, which is basically dominated by the Pashtun tribe, has found it easy to establish a stronghold here as a majority of the local people in the region are ethnic Pashtuns.

English language schools have been closed in the region since they received threats from Islamic militants. Fundamentalist restrictions on men and women have increased, which include the compulsory use of veil by women. Men are told to give up shaving the beard.

But there are numerous versions of the Sharia. Twenty five people died last year in this region as mullahs, who preached rival versions of Islam, engaged in street battles.

Last Wednesday’s killings have come as the last in a series of such fundamentalist executions in this region by Islamic groups associated to the Taliban.

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