Tribal clashes in Kurram come to halt after claiming 49 lives within a week: DC

Tribal clashes which have been ongoing for the past seven days in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram District claiming 49 lives and leaving more than 200 people injured have come to a halt, the deputy commissioner (DC) said on Tuesday.

According to the police and district administration, armed clashes between Boshehra and Maleekhel tribesmen had begun on the evening of July 24. Similar tribal clashes had erupted in the region last year as well, leading to sporadic violence that claimed 25 lives.

Despite recent efforts from a jirga of elders from the Hangu and Orakzai districts to secure a ceasefire this time, fighting continued, with both sides resorting to using heavy weapons to target each other’s positions. Soon the hostilities spread to other areas, including Peewar, Tangi, Balishkhel, Khaar Kalay, Maqbal, Kunj Alizai, Para Chamkani, and Karman.

“Both tribes have agreed to a ceasefire and the clashes have been halted since last night,” Kurram DC Javedullah Mehsud told Dawn.com.

“The parties were made to clear the bunkers [and] security forces have been deployed there, while no gunfire was reported at five locations of Kurram District,” he asserted.

He added that a ceasefire brokered by jirga members on Sunday was “largely” being adhered to but fights resumed on Monday as well.

The medical superintendent of the District Headquarters Hospital, Dr Mir Hassan Jan, said that the killing of 14 more people on Monday took the death toll to 49. He revealed that 210 people were left injured as a result of the clashes, with at least 12 critically wounded people shifted to Peshawar for treatment.

Following Monday’s ceasefire, further efforts to sustain peace in the region were underway, Mehsud said, adding that a grand jirga, Kohat’s general officer commanding (GOC) of 9 infantry division, and Kohat division’s deputy inspector-general and commissioner were present in the Parachinar city for peace efforts.

District Police Officer (DPO) Nisar Ahmed Khan also said security forces had been deployed at fighting positions, adding that they would remain stationed there until the situation returned to normalcy.

Providing further details, Khan said that while business activities were beginning to resume, the main arteries and schools across the Kurram district were still closed.

“Mobile data services had been suspended, while call services are active”, the DPO said.

Mir Afzal Khan, a local social worker, said the main Parachinar Road was closed to traffic due to the conflict, disrupting the supply of food and other items.

“The closure of the main road is causing farmers and traders a loss of millions of rupees,” he claimed, adding that the area was also facing a shortage of food items, medicines, and other goods.

Rights group voices concern, KP chief minister takes notice

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) had also voiced its deep concern at the “significant loss of life in Parachinar, Kurram, where rival tribes have engaged in a violent land dispute for several days, fueling sectarian conflict”.

“The violence has taken a heavy toll on ordinary citizens, whose freedom of movement and access to food and medical supplies has been curtailed,” it said in a statement on Monday.

It had called on the KP government to “ensure that the ceasefire being brokered, holds”.

“All disputes, whether over land or born of sectarian conflict, must be resolved peacefully through negotiations convened by the KP government with all stakeholders represented,” it said.

On his part, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur took notice of the “clashes between parties and the loss of precious lives over a property dispute” in Kurram, the KP information department said on July 27.

“The district administration and the police should play an effective role in the ceasefire between the parties, and no one shall be allowed to take the law into their hands and ruin the area’s peace,” the statement quoted Gandapur as saying.

“The parties should sit together and resolve the dispute through a jirga as per tribal traditions,” the chief minister had said. Offering his sympathies to the bereaved families, he prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.