November 5, 2025
By Islam Gul
KHYBER
Forty-five-year-old Ashna Gul from Tirah Valley in Khyber District has been displaced from his house and area but even that a bigger tragedy befell him which will haunt him an entire lifetime: the loss of his wife in the ongoing wave of violence. At his relatives’ hujra (guesthouse) in Spin Dhand, Bara, family and friends come to offer condolences, while his family of about 40 members is temporarily residing in a small house.
A curfew had been imposed in the area for two days and no one was allowed to leave their homes, recounts Ashna Gul. Despite this, there had been continuous firing with small and heavy weapons. When the intensity of firing increased in the afternoon of October 28, he moved his own family and that of his four brothers — about forty people in all — to the lower rooms for safety, while he himself monitored the situation outside from an upper room.
Suddenly, a heavy shell struck the room where the women and children were sheltering. When Ashna Gul rushed downstairs, he was horrified to see the entire house was engulfed in dust and debris. Nothing was visible but in the darkness, children’s and women’s screams echoed. He moved forward, stepping over wounded children and women. Shortly after, his 20-year-old son Umar Khan emerged from the room carrying his mother lying limp in his arms. His other children – Afshan (10), Maria, his eight-year-old niece, and his sister (50) were critically wounded.
The most difficult journey
After the incident, various people were contacted by mobile phone to take the wounded to a nearby doctor and to stop the firing through mosque announcements, but the shelling with heavy weapons did not cease. Despite the difficult conditions, they took the wounded and his wife’s body to the doctor in a pickup truck, where her death was confirmed.
On the return journey after treating the wounded, thirty-year-old driver Dilshad was injured by gunfire from an unknown direction. The vehicle, carrying about twenty relatives, stopped at that location.
After considerable efforts and contacts, permission was granted the next day at noon to transport the body on foot. All family members carried the body on their shoulders for a two-hour journey through the mountains. The wife was buried in Bara, while treatment of the wounded children continues.
Memories stained with blood
Meanwhile none of Ashna Gul’s five children are willing to return home. Fear grips them each time they think of going back. Whenever Ashna Gul mentions returning, they say, “We can never go to the house where our mother was martyred, where our rooms and belongings are stained with her blood.”
Umar, who had pulled his mother from the rubble, wore the same clothes soaked in his mother’s blood for a long time, refusing to change them. “This is my mother’s sacred blood,” he says. But after hours of pleading, he finally agreed to change.
Tirah Valley: Past and present
Tirah Valley, a remote and underdeveloped area of Khyber District, was once famous for tourism and hemp cultivation. The valley, with a population of 2.5 to 3 million people, has experienced a tense situation for the past three years.
According to security officials, people have been asked to leave the area again in view of military operations against armed groups, but locals are not willing to abandon their homes.
Syed Muhammad, who has moved his children to Bara but whose remaining eight family members are still in Tirah Valley, explains: “In 2013, the entire valley was evacuated to establish permanent peace. In 2015, the government allowed people to return. At that time, all houses were destroyed, lands were barren, and livestock had fallen prey to wild animals. The government provided no significant assistance. We restarted our lives with our own resources, but after a few years, violence erupted again.”
He says: “We are not prepared to leave our homes at any cost, because establishing permanent peace is the state’s responsibility.”
The situation of displaced families
According to unofficial statistics, more than five hundred families have been displaced from Tirah Valley, most belonging to the Bar Qambar Khel sub-branch of the Afridi tribe. There is no government arrangement for registration or aid for these displaced families. Most families are staying with their relatives, but their problems are serious. Many families have only moved women and children to safe locations while men remain in the area.
When contacted regarding the recent displacement from Tirah, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and district officials provided no response.
Forty-year-old Adil Khan Afridi, who like many locals has arranged accommodation and food for his displaced relatives from his own resources, says: “More than thirty relatives are staying with me. I am making every possible effort to meet their needs, but due to not having their own homes, two to three families are forced to live difficult lives in a single room.”
Failure of peace efforts
Jirgas between local elders and armed groups have been ongoing for several months to establish peace in Tirah Valley, but no clear results have emerged yet.
On government directives, several meetings have taken place between local tribes and the political and tribal elders of Khyber District. In negotiations between Bar Qambar Khel elders and armed groups, demands were made to evacuate residential areas and stop attacks on forces, but no progress has been made.
The political alliance decided it would determine a course of action after learning the provincial government’s position on the ongoing military operation and would soon meet with the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Violation of peace agreement
On November 2, negotiations between the Bar Qambar Khel National Council and the banned group in Tirah Valley succeeded. The banned group decided to evacuate residential areas and public places. Through the National Council’s efforts, talks were held with force officials, the curfew was lifted, and both sides agreed to a ceasefire. The possibility of migration ended and those who had moved were asked to return.
However, later the Bar Qambar Khel National Council elders alleged that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan violated the peace agreement made on the Holy Quran and started targeting security forces from residential areas, making ordinary citizens’ lives miserable again.
Tribal elders present at the jirga said that ordinary citizens are being affected by forces’ shelling in response to militants’ firing. The jirga, led by National Mashir Haji Zahir Shah Afridi and Kamaluddin Afridi, was attended by large numbers of representatives from elders, youth, traders, and student organizations.
The National Council held the Tehreek-e-Taliban leadership council responsible for violating the peace agreement and said that militants are using ordinary people’s homes, hujras, and mosques as shields, increasing the loss of human lives.
On August 5, a peace agreement was reached between the Bar Qambar Khel tribe and armed groups, agreeing on the withdrawal of armed individuals from the general population, ending attacks on forces from the local population, and avoiding any action without informing the jirga. However, after the violation of the agreement, clashes resumed.
Displacement will be the last option: Grand Jirga
National Mashir Haji Zahir Shah Afridi announced that a grand jirga would be convened, in which one person from every Bar Qambar Khel household would participate. Political and social representatives, religious scholars, traders, and students will also be included so that collective decisions can be made regarding the area’s peace and future.
In the jirga comprising local elders, religious scholars, the trader community, and public representatives, the matter of temporarily evacuating the area at the forces’ demand was discussed. Tribal elders took the position that leaving the area would be the last option, and every decision would be made through mutual consultation.
Public disillusionment
Despite all these efforts, ordinary people of Tirah Valley are not satisfied. Ashna Gul says: “Jirgas have been happening for several months and we’re told there’s nothing to worry about, don’t migrate. If the elders had timely informed us of the seriousness of the situation, we would have moved our children and women to safe places. Now we don’t believe in any peace effort.”
The Shedle tragedy
On the night between October 21 and 22, as a result of bombing on two houses in Shedle area of Aka Khel, 21 people, including 19 members of a single family, were killed. The area’s political alliance strongly protested this tragedy, after which the government not only announced financial aid for the bereaved but also admitted the mistake by declaring the affected family innocent.
Government efforts
At the directive of newly elected Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, a peace jirga was convened in which not only local but also elders and political leaders from other tribal districts participated. The Chief Minister made clear that peace jirgas would be held in all districts to establish permanent peace in the tribal belt, and the final jirga would be held at the Chief Minister’s House, after which all proposals would be presented to the federation. Peace jirgas have been held from Khyber to the southern districts, however, the final jirga at the Chief Minister’s House has been called for November.
Criminals, political pressure hindering military operations: DG ISPR
Two days ago, DG ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry spoke in detail about the Tirah Valley situation in a media briefing. He said that political and criminal elements are factors that have prevented operations from advancing effectively. This means that obstacles are being created in the area’s peace process, migration matters, and military operations due to political pressure, government interference, or local backing.
According to him, the impact has been that not only are military operations ongoing in areas like Tirah Valley, but local people are terrorized, migrating, and facing economic and social shutdown.
Drug trade
The DG ISPR further stated that even now in Tirah Valley, poppy crops are cultivated on twelve thousand acres, generating billions of rupees in revenue. According to him, 70 percent of Tirah’s population is connected to the poppy trade. Tirah is considered the center of poppy production in all of Pakistan, where regular hashish markets operate. Now terrorists also take their share from this poppy and hashish. Drug smugglers in Pakistan smuggle hashish from here throughout the country. Tirah is also the biggest route for drugs coming from Afghanistan.
A significant portion of this billions of rupees in illegal earnings is also paid to local administration and politicians. Thus, drugs in Tirah have connected terrorists, local population, local administration, politicians, and smugglers together.