Warring Sawand and Sabzoi clans announce ceasefire
“We want to see our children carrying school bags instead of guns,” said Sardar Jehangir Khan Kakepoto of the Sawands who met the Sabzois’ Sardar Tegho Khan Teghani at the latter’s residence in Shikarpur.
The dispute that started over a piece of land in the katcha area of Kandhkot has claimed scores of innocent lives and has left 100 people injured.
“I always dreamt about peace and brotherhood between various clans of the area,” Sardar Tegho Khan Teghani told The Express Tribune. “Today we have decided to bring an end to this bloodshed and have fixed July 29 for a reconciliatory meeting in either Sukkur or Shikarpur.”
Former Sindh minister Mir Manzoor Panhwar and Dr Mohammad Ibrahim Jatoi will act as mediators and elders will attend from both sides.
This is not the first time they have attempted to reach a truce. A jirga was held two years ago at a government degree college but its decisions were not followed. Soon after, a Sawand teenager was shot dead in Ghotki, renewing the cycle of violence. To a question on whether this would be the case with this ‘jirga’, Sardar Teghani said that this time they would not allow anybody to violate the truce.
“We won’t let our motherland burn in the fire of tribal feuds,” said Kakepoto. “Today we have gathered to carve out ways and means to bring about long-lasting peace in the disturbed areas. Tribal feuds have badly affected education, agriculture, transport and business in the district.”
DPO Kashmore Abdul Salam Shaikh described this as a “welcome gesture”. He said that they always put pressure on tribal elders to reconcile their differences. “Holding jirgas in Sindh is banned by the courts, but if they are holding this meeting in accordance with the Shariah and guidelines of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, then we don’t have any objection,” he said, while referring to Diyat or blood money. As a precautionary note, however, he added that the police would be keeping an eye on whether they would be exchanging any girls in marriage.
The DPO wanted the clansmen to submit affidavits about the reconciliation to pave the way for the police to withdraw the murder cases.
People unrelated to the feud have also suffered in the area. Schooling and farming have been affected and innocent women and children have been killed.
According to informed sources, the land belonged to the forest department but was in the possession of the Sawands, who grew wheat on it. When the Sabzois claimed the land, the fight erupted. Three people lost their lives in the first bout and then tit-for-tat killings continued.
The areas affected are Kandhkot, Kashmore, Garhi Tegho, Ghouspur, Buxapur, Tangwani. Other clashes have been between the Teghanis and Ogahis, Jakhranis and Bhayos, Kandranis and Jakhranis, Chachars and Sabzois. They mostly fight over cattleheads, grazing in each other’s fields, children and karo kari.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2010.
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