November 27, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
A high-level government delegation has held talks with tribal elders in Parachinar to stop the escalation of violence in Kurram district that has claimed the lives of 76 people since November 21.
Since Tuesday November 26, while Islamabad was embroiled in violent demonstrations by the PTI, and an army operation on the agitators later, the situation in Parachinar, which is also the main city in the Kurram district, also remained tense but with no reports of clashes between the rival Shia and Sunni tribes. For a second consecutive day, the Parachinar DHQ Hospital sources too, did not report any casualties from tribal fighting.
On Thursday November 21, a direct attack on the convoy at the Mandori Charkhel area of Lower Kurram district resulted in the killing of 42 passengers. In the weeklong clashes, 33 others were killed in arson and gunfights in the Sunni-dominated Bagan and Alizai areas of Lower Kurram. At least 138 had been injured in firing incidents at different places in the district.
Mobile and internet services have been suspended across the district since the attack on the passenger convoy on November 21. Residents say some schools have opened but most educational institutions remain closed. The closure of the main highway linking Parachinar with Peshawar and the rest of the province has led to shortages of fuel, commodities, and medicines. The border trade with Afghanistan has also stopped due to the continued closure of the Kholarchi crossing in the Kurram district. The border closure has hit businesses as well as stopped alternative routes for supplies to Parachinar city.
According to Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud, a high-level delegation comprising the Kohat commissioner is holding a grand peace jirga with tribal elders to restore normalcy in the district. Sporadic tribal clashes have continued despite the government brokering a ceasefire between rival tribes last Sunday.
PTI government criticized
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi criticized Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for neglecting Kurram district where hundreds of lives have been lost in tribal clashes. Speaking at a press conference in Peshawar, Kundi said he is extending an open invitation to the chief minister to visit Parachinar along with him and restore peace in the region. The governor said he would be holding an all parties’ conference on Kurram in the first week of December and would request the chief minister to participate in it.
Kundi said the provincial government was doing nothing to provide relief to people of Kurram displaced in the tribal clashes, adding that the provincial Red Crescent was the only organisation providing assistance to the displaced persons in Kurram. He called on international relief organisations to come forward with assistance to victims of violence in the district. He called on the provincial government to focus on stemming the cycle of violence in Kurram district instead of trying to oust the federal government in Islamabad through futile marches and rallies.