Agence France Presse

Khost, March 25:

Sixteen-year-old Taj Malook may be killed for a crime he didn’t commit. Elders in the village of Ghulang in Khost province have abducted the teenager and threatened him with his life if they don’t find the body of a man allegedly murdered by Taj’s father Gull Malook. “If the body doesn’t turn up, then we will kill the boy in the coming days,” Haji Hazrat Mangal, an elder of the Ayoubi tribe said. His case highlights the weak grip of law and order in southeast Afghanistan’s tribal areas and how little control the central government in Kabul has over traditional, clan-based justice systems. With no functioning law enforcement agency to help, Taj is being kept in a secret location by tribal elders who do not want outsiders to interfere with ancient codes of honour.

The problem stems from a blood feud between his father’s family and their neighbours in Mosa Khel district, 35 km north of Khost, which culminated on March 2 with the murder of Mohammed Ayoub. Elders normally allow warring families to settle disputes between themselves but they step in when the situation gets out of hand. In Taj’s case, his father had allegedly killed eight other members of the same family and Ayoub was the last remaining male relative, leading the tribes to pursue their own brand of justice.