Daily Times

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa apex committee decided on Friday to dismantle all bunkers in the Kurram District in a bid to restore peace in the area, where weeks-long deadly tribal clashes have resulted in a law and order situation.

Scores have been wounded and many displaced in the clashes in Kurram that have killed at least 130 people since last month. The clashes started in the wake of an attack on a convoy that claimed at least 43 lives.

As the jirga continued making efforts for long-term peace in the district, the apex committee meeting – chaired by Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur – decided to “dismantle all bunkers in Kurram and remove heavy weapons”.

“Lasting peace is not possible without the eradication of bunkers and weapons,” said a statement released after the meeting, which was also attended by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi.

Earlier this month, CM Gandapur ordered security forces to dismantle the bunkers, as well as directed officials to confiscate heavy weapons from locals and temporarily collect arms from residents of areas bordering Afghanistan.

The provincial government has already declared that the situation in Kurram will normalise only after the armed groups voluntarily surrendered heavy weapons and vacated the bunkers used to target each other. Participants at the apex committee included senior civil and military leadership, relevant members of the provincial cabinet, as well as officials from the relevant divisional and district administrations.

The committee also announced the timely provision of medicines and other essential items to Kurram. Connecting routes to the district’s Parachinar have remained cut off due to security reasons, leading to shortages of medicine and food supplies. It said that the private bunkers in the area would be dismantled “at all costs”, adding that the “trend of weapons” from the area needed to be eliminated for sustained peace. “All land routes would open only when the heavy weaponry has been removed.’

The apex committee reviewed the steps taken by the grand jirga to establish peace, deciding that its meetings would continue. A supervisory committee was instructed to speed up the process of reconciliation, the statement said. “The federal government should take steps to establish peace and order in the province,” CM Gandapur was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Naqvi affirmed that the government was determined to maintain the peace and steps to ensure that would be taken on all levels.

The meeting was to review the situation in Kurram, the KP government’s measures to restore peace, and other related matters, according to an official statement released earlier. “The forum will also determine a future course of action for achieving sustainable peace in the area through consultations with all relevant stakeholders.” The official statement added that the meeting would be briefed on the progress made so far by the “grand jirga” formed by the provincial government to restore peace in the district.

The jirga has been holding talks with members from both warring tribes but a permanent peace deal is elusive.

Another official statement earlier declared that CM Gandapur had decided to provide wheat to Kurram residents at subsidised rates and directed the food department and district administration to take immediate steps in this regard.

The provincial government on Thursday continued to supply medicines to Kurram via an MI-17 helicopter. Two consignments of medicines were delivered to the Sadda area, according to a statement, which added that the 3,600kg shipment included emergency medicines and essential vaccines.

On Wednesday, the provincial government rejected a claim of the Kurram chemists and druggist association about 60 deaths from medicine shortages, and insisted medicine supply to the district had never been stopped or disrupted. Ahead of the apex committee moot, Naqvi arrived at the chief minister’s office in Peshawar, where the two exchanged views on establishing peace in Kurram, according to a statement by the interior ministry. “We will fully support increasing the capabilities of law enforcement agencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Establishing peace in Kurram is our top priority,” Naqvi was quoted as saying.