North Waziristan clashes leave two dead

Tribespeople lament state appears to be losing writ

MIRANSHAH:

Two people were killed and several others injured in fierce clashes between two tribes over a land dispute in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Saturday. Local residents told The Express Tribune that the clashes have been going on between the Edik and Bora Khel clans over the ownership of a large piece of land for the past four days and authorities and police had turned a blind eye towards it.

On Friday two children were injured when a mortar shell landed inside a school in Irfan Kot village after which the authorities closed down all the schools in the area on emergency basis. Official sources said that a Jirga of Dawar and Wazir clans along with the police was trying to reach the site of the conflict and a large contingent of police was received from Bannu as reinforcement. “They have issued warning to both the factions to stop fighting and come to the negotiation table otherwise strict action will be taken against them,” said an official, adding that these tribesmen were heavily armed and they were even using mortar guns to pound each other’s positions but police was only armed with AK-47s.

On the other hand a local organization Youth of Waziristan organized a rally against the clashes in Mir Ali. The participants urged the government and especially police to intervene in order to stop further bloodshed in the area. They chanted slogans against the district administration for its failure to maintain law and order in the district. The leaders of the Youth of Waziristan appealed to the local tribes and its elders to play their due role in solving this matter.

“These people are using heavy weapons including mortar guns despite the fact that military operations have been conducted in the district against militants recently,” they blamed, adding that local population was also under threat as several shells landed in houses too injuring women and children. It is worth noting here that each year dozens of people are killed in the tribal districts over land disputes. In the past political agents and assistant political agents had considerable policing and judicial powers and these powers kept the local tribesmen in check so there were very few personal disputes back then.

With the merger of the tribal districts in the K-P this has changed now as no one fear the deputy commissioners who have no policing powers neither enjoy judicial powers. The local Jirga system has also been in ruins and due to this human lives are lost.