Land row: Warring tribes extend cease fire till October 10

Government urged to mediate and resolve the G-B, Kohistan land conflict without further delay.

KOHISTAN:

The ceasefire between tribes from Kohistan district and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) at odds with each other over a piece of land has been extended till October 10.

Haji Sher Ghazi, a member of Bhasha Dam Action Committee announced this on Tuesday while speaking to the media after meeting the deputy commissioner (DC) of Kohistan.



Members of the committee informed the DC of their grievances and sought the provincial government’s help in resolving the issue.

They urged the government to resolve the dispute without further delay otherwise the warring tribes could return to violence.

According to Ghazi, a jirga from G-B led by Haji Wakeel requested an extension of the ceasefire between the tribes of Kohistan and G-B while elders resolve the matter through dialogue. He added both sides then agreed to extend the ceasefire till October 10.

Haji Satbar Shah, another member of the committee, said members of the tribes would be allowed to travel on both sides of the Karakoram Highway during the extension and no one will resort to violence.

In response to a query, committee member Haji Mir Zaman accused the tribes of G-B of foiling the efforts of an independent jirga. “The tribes from Thordas refused to surrender the strip they had been occupying for years. They disrespected the jirga by not agreeing to accept the map of Pakistan drawn in 1955 and not paying blood money to the families of the Kohistani villagers killed in a shoot-out,” he alleged.

He added even Kohistanis are not willing to retract from their claim to the 8km strip. The federal government had announced it would set up a judicial commission to resolve the issue but there has been little progress, said Zaman.

Prolonged conflict

The long-standing dispute over the ownership of the 8km strip of land separating Kohistan and G-B has seen bloodshed in the past. The land was demarcated as part of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam project hence both parties lay claim to the financial compensation that the government has to pay.



In March, a shoot-out between the two sides claimed six lives and injured over a dozen people. A ceasefire was then brokered by a tribal jirga between the tribes which lasted till September 22. The tribes also agreed to move back once military or paramilitary forces are deployed by the government in the territory.

However, no agreement has been reached thus far and it was feared that skirmishes might begin once again.

Reaching a resolution is necessary because of the geographic significance of the dispute. The Karakoram Highway has been blocked by the warring tribes in the past and the dam project is in the pipeline too.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2014.