Kurram jirga resolves 30-year-old dispute

200 tribesmen, local admin join ceremony as Tindowal, Ali-Sherzai land dispute settled

PESHAWAR:

The Tori Bangash jirga on Thursday announced its verdict in a land dispute putting an end to a thirty-year-long rivalry between two tribes in Kurram that had claimed several lives.

For the past 30 years, the longstanding dispute over roughly 25,000 Kanal land between two tribes, the Tindowal and the Ali-Sherzai, had cost both sides heavily – both monetarily as well as in terms of lives.

The event today (Thursday) was arranged in DC compound Sadda where Assistant Commissioner (AC) Central Kurram, Wing Commissioner 116 wing and police officials were joined by over two hundred tribesmen.

Members of both sides were present at the grand ceremony where the two unanimously accepted the verdict of the jirga.

Read Grand Jirga of 7 districts reviews law & order

The AC welcomed all guests and appreciated the role played by the jirga members in the resolution of the conflict, as well as the rival tribes who showed “extraordinary flexibility” and extended full support to the jirga members.

He also anticipated that the Tindo dispute resolution would prove to be a key turning point in the region and hoped that it will pave the way for the early resolution of other disputes in the districts as well.

The jirga members and tribal elders also extended their gratitude to the district administration for their “wholehearted support” and “cooperation”. Without sincerity and commitment on part of the administration, the jirga members held, the resolution of the dispute would not have been possible.

It may be noted that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government had decided to resolve land disputes in the newly-merged tribal districts through the Alternative Dispute Resolution System (ADRS) in view of the increasing number of such disputes in these areas. This method enables parties to a dispute to resolve it with mutual negotiations on the guidance of a local panchayat or jirga comprising area notables.