Warning bells: Kohistan landowners continue protest

KOHISTAN:

Landowners in Kohistan continued their protest for the seventh consecutive day on Saturday over delays in making Basri Boundary Commission Report public. They urged the government to settle the boundary dispute once and for all.

The villagers from Harban Bhasha in Kohistan started their protest by setting up a camp on the side of Karakoram Highway (KKH) near Harban Nala and blocked the road for an hour every day. They suspended traffic passing through the only land route between Gilgit-Baltistan and the rest of country.

Speaking to protesters, QWP Kohistan General Secretary Asadullah Qureshi said the actual dispute was over an area of two kilometres. However,  the policies of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda)had extended it to over eight kilometres, which resulted in a dispute between tribes of Kohistan and G-B.

Haji Nemat Khan, another tribal elder, said following a firing incident between tribes of both areas regarding the ownership of land, the federal government constituted a single member judicial commission named Basri Boundary Commission.

However, even after a year and despite completion of report, the federal and G-B governments were deliberately withholding results. He said if their demands were not accepted, the tribes of Kohistan will march towards Thordas from December 1 and block traffic from both sides of KKH.

The past

The federal government deployed Rangers in the area to put an end to the long-simmering armed territorial conflict between communities of Diamer, Gilgit and Kohistan districts.

The last skirmish occurred on March 1, 2014 where six tribespeople from both sides were killed and over two dozen people were injured. The fulcrum of the dispute started since 2006 when Basri check post on KKH separating Kohistan from Gilgit-Baltistan was made.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2015.