Inter-clan fight claims one more life in North Waziristan

NORTH WAZIRISTAN:

Yet another man was killed when hit by a mortar shell in fierce fighting between Bora Khel and Edik clans in North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Sunday.

Both the sides are using mortar guns, RPG-7s and medium and heavy machineguns to target each other’s positions. This is the second man killed in the fighting since the start of the armed conflict in the area on Thursday. Earlier a man was killed and two others were seriously injured.

On Friday the district administration claimed that a Jirga had been assembled to negotiate the matter with both the factions who are fighting over the ownership of a village. The tussle is nearly five decades old. Talking to The Express Tribune a local elder and member of the Jirga Malik Sher Khan said that after their intense efforts for the past three days both sides finally agreed to table talks.

“We have received Rs50 million as surety from each side and it has been decided that the matter will be solved on the basis of a decision taken by the political agent in 1995 about the ownership of the disputed land. So far this unfortunate conflict has claimed the lives of 111 innocent tribesmen and bloodshed will not be tolerated anymore,” he said, adding that the authorities-backed Jirga has also started getting vacated the fortified positions made by each side after the ceasefire agreement.

On the other side since both the factions caught people from the rival factions in the past three days by establishing check posts in the area, this caused great inconvenience to the matric and intermediate students of both the clans. The Education Department was able to solve the matter by establishing examination halls in the areas under the control of each clan for the local students to facilitate them. The examination halls were established by Bannu Board of Intermediate and Secondary Examination.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2021.