The area of Kurram Agency has been victim to multiple blasts and attacks over the month of January. With a population of 619,553, the casualties to infrastructure have left multiple homes destroyed. As a result, an emergency jirga of the tribal elders of Kurram Agency was held on Saturday, in which it was decided that compensation will be demanded for homes which had been destroyed due to the massive unrest in the region. Addressing the jirga, which was attended jointly by the Bash Khel tribe and Mandokhel tribes in the central Kurram area of Tor Umar, tribal elders Pathan Abdul Khaliq, Malik Mir Akbar Jan Malik Kamal and others confirmed that during the unrest, thousands of homes have been destroyed in the area. “People were forced to leave their homes and migrate to different areas of the country,” they added. Those who did not receive any help from the government must be provided with aid for the construction of homes, they demanded. On January 30, at least eight members of a family, including two minor girls, were killed and another man was injured in a landmine blast in Kurram Agency. According to hospital sources, the family was traveling from Muqbal area near the border to attend a funeral in Upper Kurram’s Basu area when their vehicle hit a landmine, killing three women, two minor girls and three men on the spot. The car was completely destroyed in the blast. The elders further said that central Kurram did not have basic facilities of a hospital, road, water and electricity due to which the residents faced immense problems. The jirga threatened the government that if it failed to immediately provide aid, the affected in central Kurram will launch a protest movement in front of the governor house. Late last month, a curfew was imposed in the region due to a clash between two groups of Parachinar, creating immense problems for residents as public transport remained suspended in the area. Locals said they were unable to collect essential items like food, fuel and water with the immediate imposition of curfew.
Published in Daily Times, February 18th 2018.