Polio immunisation: Tribe threatens to boycott vaccination

The elders were released upon surety that the tribe will return the money within the next 20 days, says Jan.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A jirga of Ahmand Khel, sub-clan of Shirani tribe, has decided to boycott polio vaccinations and block the main road linking Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan) with Zhob, Balochistan, on February 6 to protest against the cessation of work on the Parwara Small Dam in Frontier Region (FR) DI Khan.

The government cancelled the dam project because of a local conflict between Ahmand Khel and Umarzai tribes over the ownership of the land the dam is supposed to be built on. Ahmand Khel claims the land belongs to them not the Umarzai tribe, whom the government has paid Rs450,000 as compensation. When the political administration of FR DI Khan asked the tribe to return the amount to the government, it refused. As a result the administration arrested three elders of the tribe, Assistant Political Agent (APA) Saleem Jan told The Express Tribune. He added that on Monday, the three elders were released from the DI Khan Central Prison upon surety that the tribe will return the money within the next 20 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.