Jirga irked by Parachinar kidnappings

Elders say tribes will not allow any supplies for cantonment through their areas.

PESHAWAR:

Turi and Bangash tribesmen in Parachinar have decided not to cooperate with the government till tribesmen kidnapped a day ago are recovered, tribal sources said on Saturday.

On Friday, gunmen attacked a convoy of passenger vans going to Parachinar from Peshawar and killed 13 people and injured eight, while kidnapping 33 others.

The sources told The Express Tribune that tribesmen who formed a tribal jirga on the issue also protested against the attack in front of the political agent’s office and at the Frontier Corps fort in Parachinar. Meanwhile, the jirga of Turi and Bangash elders decided not to cooperate with the authorities till the recovery of the kidnapped people.

“We will have nothing to do with political authorities, the Frontier Corps or governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa till the kidnapped tribesmen are released from (kidnappers’) custody,” an elder told The Express Tribune. He said that they would soon seal off the cantonment area.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2011.