November 22, 2024
By Rehan Piracha & Xari Jalil
LAHORE
A thick curtain of misery hung in the air in Parachinar as the coffins of 44 people who were massacred on Thursday November 21, were taken to their final resting place. From one family seven people were killed, while six women were also part of those who were killed in the brutal and bloody massacre.
The situation in the city was tense with reports of sporadic attacks on civil installations in the city. The district administration said 11 of the 39 injured in the attack have been shifted from the military hospital in Tal to Peshawar. In addition, 25 injured are at the Alizai hospital and three at the Parachinar hospital. The burials included seven individuals of a single family in Parachinar who perished in the convoy shooting. The attack occurred in the Mandori area of Lower Kurram when a convoy of vehicles traveling under security cover from Peshawar to Parachinar came under fire.
Protesters demand removal of CM, Governor
Meanwhile, residents from Parachinar held a demonstration in front of the Peshawar Press Club against the massacre in Kurram district. The protesters demanded the immediate dismissal of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi over the failure of the government to stem tribal clashes that has claimed the lives of over 150 people in the last three months. The protesters called on the Supreme Court to conduct a suo motu hearing over the volatile situation in Kurrum.
The protesters called for a judicial inquiry and the opening the Afghan border for the supply of food and medicines to besieged residents in Parachinar.
KP Bar Council gives strike call
The Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council gave the call for a province-wide strike tomorrow (November 23) to condemn the killings. The council set a deadline of 15 days to restore law and order in Kurrum. The bar council announced holding a peace march from Peshawar to Parachinar if the provincial government failed to act within the deadline.
PPP leader blames CM
Separately, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Sajid Turi blamed the chief minister for not paying attention to the affairs of the province. He supported calls for a judicial inquiry into the massacre to avoid security failures in the future. “There could be a possibility of the involvement of an outlawed organisation based in Afghanistan in the terrorism incident,” Turi told reporters at a press conference in Peshawar. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Former IGP calls for probe into security failure
In a video message circulated on social media, Syed Irshad Hussain, a retired inspector general of police, called for the resignation of Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi for the failure of federal security forces to protect the civilian convoy in Kurrum district. “The government, district administration, and security forces are responsible for the killing of civilians,” Hussain said in his video, questioning why the security forces failed to picket the route of the convoy. He said the attackers fled easily after shooting at the convoy and there was no reprisal from security personnel deployed with the convoy. He also called for a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Kurrum district has witnessed clashes between rival tribes over a land dispute for decades. Clashes between tribes belonging to Sunni and Shia sects have left over a hundred people dead since August. The Parachinar-Peshawar road has been closed to all types of traffic since the attack on a passenger van convoy in the Konj Alizai area of Upper Kurram on October 12 that resulted in the death of 15 people. All travel is conducted in the form of passenger convoys under police escort due to the security situation in Kurram district.