Dec 26, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Negotiators are hoping for the inking of a pact between the warring tribes in the Kurram district while protests in the region gain intensity over the humanitarian crisis following the 80-day-long highway closure linking the district to the rest of the province.
According to Laiq Orakzai, a member of the government-convened Grand Jirga tasked with resolving the Kurram conflict, said the rival tribes have completed their negotiations, paving the way to a written agreement for opening the road link to Upper Kurram and district capital Parachinar which was closed on October 15.
The Grand Jirga is being reconvened in Kohat today (December 26) and negotiators are expected to announce a final decision toward restoring peace in the conflict-ridden district where internecine clashes between rival tribes from Shia and Sunni sects have claimed the lives of over 200 people since August.
No supplies reaching Kurram: Tehsil mayor
In Parachinar, residents continued with their weeklong protest demonstration against the shortage of medicines, food, and fuel that has paralysed the lives of over 700,000 inhabitants of the Kurram district. Children, adults and the elderly are participating in a sit-in amid severe cold.
“A major humanitarian crisis has erupted in Parachinar where residents have run out of supplies of medicines, food, fuel, and other essential commodities,” Agha Muzammil Hussain, Tehsil Chairman of Upper Karam, told Voicepk on the phone from Parachinar. The death of hundreds of children due to lack of medical treatment reflects the ongoing crisis, he said.
Hussain disputed claims by government officials that the administration was ensuring food and essential medicines to the district amid the road closure over security concerns. “The government is claiming that it is flying in supplies of medicines and food to Kurram through daily helicopter sorties to Parachinar, but is this minuscule quantity enough to meet the needs of over 700,000 inhabitants?” Hussain questioned. He said the helicopter sorties bring a few cartons of medicines which are sent to the DHQ Hospital in Parachinar but there had been no supplies to replenish stocks of 370 medical stores in the city.
“Similarly, the provincial government is claiming that they have sent bags of flour to residents in Parachinar but I being a town mayor don’t know where the flour bags were sent and how were they being distributed,” Hussain pointed out, adding that the local government representatives were extremely frustrated with the provincial government’s apathy towards ongoing crisis in Kurrum.
In a statement, Ihtisham Ali, the Chief Minister’s Advisor on Health, said his government was ensuring the supply of medicines to basic health centers and hospitals in Kurram. Medicines weighing 2500 kilograms are being delivered to Parachinar on Thursday, December 26.
Upper Kurram LG reps threaten en masse resignations
Hussain revealed that the representatives of the local government in Upper Kurram have been left with no option but to resign from their positions to sensitise the provincial government to reopen the road link immediately and allow the restoration of supplies of medicines, food, fuel, and other commodities to Parachinar. “I have decided to resign along with the local government representatives if the roads are not opened immediately,” Hussain told Voicepk.net.
Solidarity demonstrations in major cities
The Majlis-e-Wehdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan organised sit-in demonstrations in Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi to express solidarity with residents of Kurrum. The sit-in demonstrations were continuing in front of the Lahore Press Club, outside the National Press Club in Islamabad, and at Numaish Chowrangi in Karachi. Protests were also held in Skardu and Gilgit. The participants vowed to continue their sit-in till the reopening of the Tal-Parachinar highway.
Call for launching de-weaponisation
On the other hand, tribal elders and religious leaders from Kurram reiterated calls for Kurram’s de-weaponisation as decided in a recent meeting of the provincial Apex committee comprising military and government leaders. Mufti Shahnawaz, Dr Abdul Karim, Khwaja Naheed, Kausar Alam, Shahid Iqbal, and others spoke of implementing the Apex committee’s decision at a news conference in Peshawar on Thursday. They said peace could come to Kurram until an operation was launched against weapons in Parachinar. If the operation was not carried out against weapons, the highway to Kurram would neither be safe for mining nor citizens.