LEAs take control of mountains
Police on Sunday took control of the mountain top positions of Turi and Para Chamkani clans in the Kurram tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) as both the sides agreed to evacuation and negotiations through a Jirga.
On Friday, five people were killed when a mortar shell hit a bunker of the Chamkani clan. It was not clear whether the mortar was fired by the rival Turi group or it exploded during firing inside the bunker.
Both the sides have a dispute over minerals. Over four days ago, five members of the Turi clan were made hostage by the Para Chamkani tribesmen who accused the rival group of collecting extortion from the trucks transporting their minerals. Later, all the five men were released after the district administration intervened.
Clashes between the two factions, however, continued and heavy weapons were used by both the sides, causing widespread panic among the local residents. On Saturday, both the sides agreed to a ceasefire for 15 days.
Clashes between different factions is a common occurrence in the tribal areas after its merger with K-P as deputy commissioners don’t have the judicial, financial and policing powers of political agents.
“In the past, political agents and assistant political agents had the power to send anyone to prison for creating a law and order situation. Khasadar and Levies were directly under their command and tribal maliks were also available to assist them. They were in a much better position to deal with such armed factions despite limited resources,” a local resident told to The Express Tribune.
“Now, the judiciary is a separate branch, police is not answerable to the DC or AC and there are limited funds too. More importantly, local maliks have legal standing and as a result, dozens of people are killed in these districts each year and large scale clashes are common place,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2022.