KP govt decides to document target killings in tribal districts

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to conduct a survey in the merged tribal districts to document targeted killings for taking corrective measures.

The decision was made during a tribal jirga at the Chief Minister’s House here on Thursday.

CM Ali Amin Gandapur presided over the event, where 11 MNAs, 15 MPAs and 16 tehsil council chairmen from tribal districts along with provincial chief secretary KP Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan and other senior officials were present.

The chief minister directed authorities to conduct that survey at police station levels in merged areas under the supervision of the district police officers, saying the incidents of targeted killings should be listed separately from murders taking place due to enmity and other issues.

The exercise to be completed within three weeks will help address targeted killings, according to the meeting minutes issued by the government on Saturday.

Says corrective measures will be taken after three-week survey

The chief minister also directed authorities to collect details of missing persons at police station level across the tribal region.

Home and tribal affairs department will contact law-enforcement agencies for the missing persons’ recovery and outline a comprehensive strategy in this regard, according to the minutes.

Mr Gandapur also sought details of checkposts from all tribal districts and plans to disband “unnecessary” ones and said the issue of the closed border crossings in Mohmand, Bajaur and North Waziristan areas should be taken up with authorities.

The minutes said the provincial government had already requested the federal government to reopen those routes.

Mr Gandapur directed the relevant departments to ensure a fresh survey of the houses, destroyed during to the fight against terrorism in tribal districts, under the Citizen Losses Compensation Programme and said the remaining cases should be disposed of and the federal government should be contacted again for the release of funds.

The chief minister asked the mines secretary to ensure an immediate end to illegal mining in tribal districts and submit a report about corrective actions taken in the last six months.

He directed the deputy commissioners to hold tribal jirgas to address the people’s issues and update him.

The minutes noted that elders from Khyber tribal district urged the federal government to help the provincial government establish peace in the region and demanded urgent action for the early return of Kukikhel Afridis to Tirah area.

Participants from the Orakzai tribal district demanded restoration of peace in their region.

Elders from North Waziristan tribal district complained about targeted killings and insisted there was no writ of the state in the district, so the incidents of targeted killings had become a “daily routine.”

They urged the chief minister to ensure public life is protected and cases of targeted killings are registered under Section 7-A of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Elders from the South Waziristan tribal district stressed the need for dispute resolutions through dialogue and said besides government officials, tribal elders and religious leaders should also be made part of the process.

They also voiced concern about the poor law and order situation in the district.

Elders and lawmakers from Bajaur district demanded restoration of peace in the area and asked the chief minister to intervene for concrete steps for the purpose. They also demanded early restoration of the over 2,000 blocked computerised national identity cards from the district.

The representatives of Mohmand tribal district called for a crackdown on illegal mining as well as effective resolution of missing persons’ issues, which, they insisted, is causing fear among locals, according to the minutes of the jirga meeting.

The chief minister told them that his government would chalk out a plan for the equitable distribution of resources to tribal districts.

He also said that a jirga of every district would take place every fortnight to seek suggestions from the local elders for the resolution of their key issues.

Mr Gandapur also said that he would call a meeting of the provincial apex committee to resolve the security issue as the restoration of peace was the foremost demand of the people.

He promised a clampdown on unauthorised armed persons across the province and said he had already issued instructions to the police for the purpose.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024