Dec 28, 2024
By Rehan Piracha & Adnan Haider
PARACHINAR
The residents of Kurram have continued their sit-in on Saturday for reopening roads as negotiators reportedly inched towards finalising a peace accord to restore normalcy in the restive region.
For the last two and a half months, the closure of roads have been created the worst shortage of essential food and non-food items and medicines in the district with areas adjacent to Parachinar and more than a hundred villages located on the Pak-Afghan border being the most severely affected.
Residents, who were employed abroad and elsewhere in the country, were stranded in Kurram unable to rejoin their jobs. Similarly, university and college students faced hindrances in reaching their institutions located in other cities.
Seriously ill patients were unable to go to Peshawar and other hospitals in the province due to the road blockades. The district administration said a helicopter service is being run for the residents of Tri Mangal, Sadda, Maqbal, and Parachinar given the difficulties faced by moving outside the district due to the prolonged road blockade.
Elders finalise peace deal
Meanwhile, negotiators of a Grand Peace Jirga convened in Kohat on Friday (Dec 27), reported headway in finalising a peace agreement between the warring tribes belonging to Sunni and Shia sects to pave the way for the reopening of roads in the Kurram district. Sources said the rival tribes have agreed to surrender heavy weapons to the government under the proposed peace accord. The Grand Peace Jirga is expected to announce its decision after parties to the Kurram conflict sign the peace agreement in Saturday’s session at the Kohat Commissioner’s office. According to jirga sources, after the decision is announced, various measures will be taken to establish peace, including opening the roads in Kurram.
Solidarity sit-ins spread to major cities
Since the past week, people have been holding a protest sit-in outside in front of the Kurram Press Club in Parachinar, the district capital. Thousands of people participated in the protest, including the elderly, children, and youngsters. Protests are also ongoing at four more places in the district. Still, participants there have not been able to join the Parachinar demonstration due to lack of public transport amid prolonged fuel shortage. Participants have vowed to continue their protests until the government acceded to their 11-point demands.
Elsewhere, the multiple solidarity sit-ins, organised on the call of the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM), have spread to major cities nationwide. The solidarity sit-ins continued in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad.
In Karachi, multiple sit-ins continued for the fifth consecutive day. The protests blockaded several important thoroughfares leading to a citywide traffic mess in all seven districts and causing hardship to people.
Pak-Afghan border shelling in Kurram
Militants from the outlawed Tehrik Taliban Pakistan and Afghan Taliban government troops opened fire and shelled areas across the border in Kurram district, sources said Saturday. The Pakistan Army responded effectively to the heavy firing and shelling from across the border and caused significant damage to the Afghanistan side, the sources added.
The current conflict in the Kurram district began in July with a land dispute between Boshehra and Maleekhel tribes. The Parachinar-Peshawar highway has been closed since October 12 after a convoy was attacked, killing 15 people. A separate ambush of a passenger convoy in November left over 40 dead in the tribal conflict spirally into the burning of villages and shops. The over 800,000 residents of Kurram have been trapped in a cycle of violence and tension for decades. Prolonged government apathy has turned a tribal dispute into a tragedy.