Bajaur Agency: Jirga decides to revive Salarzai peace militia

Plans to establish more security checkpoints to combat insurgency.

KHAR:

In order to combat militant activities in Bajaur Agency, tribal elders and political administration officials decided to revive the Salarzai peace militia during a jirga on Sunday. 

The jirga was held with tribal elders of Batwar, Baramdak and Kambli, as well as political administration officials of the agency, where the political administration officially decided to enact the peace militia again. They also decided to establish more checkpoints in the Salarazai tehsil of Bajaur Agency to control militants’ movement in the area.

Salarzai political administration official Adalat Khan said that peace militia volunteers have begun to patrol areas where militant have surfaced, adding that a significant number of tribesmen had joined the militia in the fight against militancy.

Speaking at the jirga, Assistant Political Agent Jahangir Azam said it was important that tribesmen stay united against the insurgency in the region and join the fight against terrorism. “Without peace militias, surviving here had become difficult,” he added.

Azam further said that despite recent insurgencies, volunteers were not deterred by militants’ attempts to discourage them from joining peace militias.

Local tribesmen have welcomed the official renewal of the militia and the increased security it offers.

Since the summer of 2011, the Batwar area of Salarazi, which borders with Afghanistan, had been targeted by militants several times. Both civilians and security forces had come under attack.

On Friday and Saturday more than a hundred militants gathered on the border and attacked the villages of Batwar, killing seven peace militia volunteers, injuring five security officials and
five civilians. Security officials said that they had to ask for aerial assistance to repel the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2012.