At least nine people were killed and 16 others suffered injuries as participants of a jirga opened fire at each other in the Barawal tehsil of Upper Dir, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday.
The unfortunate incident occurred during a meeting held to resolve a dispute related to the construction of a road at Ganu Cham, tehsil Barawal.
The attendees first engaged in a brawl but took out guns and began firing at each other shortly after.
It is pertinent to note that two jirga members were also among the dead.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the incident took place in Barawal Bandgai, a remote town of Dir Upper during a jirga that had been convened to resolve a land dispute between Amir Bacha and Bakht Alam.
The rival groups first engaged in a heated exchange of words before opening indiscriminate fire at each other during which seven members belonging to a single group and two jirga members were killed.
The deceased persons have been identified as Bakht Munir, Mahmood Khan, Haroon Shirin, Shirin Sultan, Hanifullah, Bakhtawar Jan, Amir Badshah, Inam Yusuf and Najmuddin while the injured include Rahatullah, Jamil, Amir Bacha, Atiq, Bacha Munir and Ataullah.
The main roads in Chitral, Peshawar and Kamrat were blocked for two hours for all kinds of traffic as protestors demanded justice and action against the culprits. However, the road was opened after successful talks led by Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Shoaib Khan, DSP Headquarters and former District Nazim Sahabzada Fasihullah.
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The demonstrators also demanded an operation against illegal possession of weapons by people in the area.
Residents of Bandgai Brawal also set fire to a car as they carried the bodies on the road.
The injured persons and the bodies were later shifted to the district headquarters hospital (DHQ), where the medical staff confirmed the deaths of nine persons.
They further confirmed providing treatment to 16 injured persons, five of whom were stated to be in a critical condition.
On August 26, eight people were killed and 11 others sustained serious injuries when the residents of two villages clashed over a land dispute near Parachinar in the Kurram tribal district of K-P.
Police said that the residents of two villages, Sher Jan Kalay and Sago Kalay, had a longstanding dispute over the ownership of a piece of land.
On the said day, the warring residents pulled out their guns and began firing at each other.
The clash erupted after a few villagers engaged in a verbal spat with each other.
Moreover, civil society activists also demanded of the government to take notice of the situation in the area as land disputes were claiming lives at an alarming pace in Kurram tribal district without inviting much attention.
On July 10, seven people were killed and about two dozen injured in a clash between Atror and Kalam clans over a land dispute in Swat district of K-P.
Residents said two people got into a fight over a standing crop after which they pulled out their weapons and started firing at each other.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2021.
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