- Demand raised for de-weaponisation of the district
December 11, 2024
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Residents in Kurram district continue to face a shortage of food, medicines, and fuel as the main highway – the Thall-Parachinar Highway – which connects Kurram to the rest of the province, has remained shut for over two months due to internecine tribal clashes.
Meanwhile the provincial government of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa has said that the highway will only be reopened once all tribes in Kurram take responsibility that no attacks will be made on convoys and passengers passing through it.
The Thall-Parachinar road, has been closed to traffic since October 12. Residents in Parachinar city, the district’s capital, have braved shortages of commodities including fresh fruits and vegetables.
Hameed Hussain Turi, member of the National Assembly from Kurram district, said people were dying of hunger and the authorities should take urgent measures to open the highway to rush in supplies to the district.
“The supplies of medicines, food items, fuel, and other essential commodities have completely run out,” he said.
“In Parachinar, the price of potatoes and tomatoes per kilogram, have jumped up to Rs 350 and Rs 250, respectively,” a resident told Voicepk. Food items have completely run out in Parachinar city, he adds. “Residents are yearning for even a bit of sugar, ghee, flour, or salt,” he said.
Fuel pump stations have also been closed for the last three weeks as tankers carrying petrol and diesel supplies cannot reach Parachinar due to the road closure. Residents are forced to walk due to a lack of fuel for their motorcycles, cars, and transport vehicles.
‘Govt writ essential for highway reopening’
Speaking with Voicepk, Ali Hadi, a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly from Kurram, called on the government to ensure the provision of food supplies to all residents in Kurram district. Ali Hadi said he was attending a Grand Jirga in Kohat convened by the provincial government for the last three days to negotiate a safe and secure reopening of the highway. The members of the Grand Jirga comprise elders of warring tribal factions, tribal leaders, and members of the government committee.
“We are trying to ensure that the writ of the government is established in Kurram and people should ensure that convoys and traffic are not attacked or ambushed when the highway is opened,” Hadi said, adding that he was hopeful of a breakthrough in the negotiations by December 11.
‘Deweaponisation is key to lasting peace’
Another provincial lawmaker from Kurram, Riaz Shaheen, told Voicepk that the deweaponisation of Kurram district was essential to lasting peace in the restive region. Shaheen said he had highlighted the importance of Kurram’s need for deweaponisation in his speech on the assembly floor only a day before. He had demanded a government probe into the presence of terrorist organisations in the region and the open hoisting of their flags on some bunkers during the recent clashes. He said the government had not even provided medicines and emergency supplies as yet to those wounded in tribal clashes in Lower Kurram.
‘Tribes must take collective responsibility’
On the other hand, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Chief Minister’s Advisor on Information, said a plan would soon be launched to deweaponise Kurram district.
“In the first phase, the rival tribes are to hand all heavy weaponry to the provincial government, and in the second phase residents will be getting licenses for firearms in their possession,” Saif told reporters at a press conference in Mardan on December 11. He said the provincial government would reopen the Thall-Parachinar road once all tribes in Kurram took responsibility for ensuring the safety of traffic and convoys passing through the highway.
“Once an agreement is reached with the tribes any attack on traffic or convoy would lead to holding all of the tribes responsible and punitive action will be taken against them,” he added.
Saif said it was true that militants from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were also operating in some parts of the district after infiltrating into Pakistan from the district’s common border with Afghanistan. “The Grand Jirga in Kohat has been tasked with removing irritants and garnering public support for measures like deweaponisation, removal of bunkers, and security of highway and once the Grand Jirga completes these deliberations the government will then launch these initiatives,” Saif said. He said 400 new police personnel, mostly from retired army personnel, will be recruited and deployed in Kurram. The provincial government will also begin air service between Parachinar and Peshawar to ease constraints faced by residents in case of road blockades, he added.
Saif said the land disputes between Sunni and Shia tribes in Kurram were over a hundred years old and the provincial government was bringing the warring factions to negotiate a lasting peace in the region. Escalating violence between Sunni and Shia tribes in Kurram has killed over 150 people only since August.