PESHAWAR:
People in Lower Kurram began handing over their firearms to authorities amid a law enforcement agency (LEA) operation that entered its third day on Tuesday.
According to sources, the police collected weapons in Bagan and its adjoining areas, where the operation is currently being carried out. They said the operation continued in the area on Tuesday during which the forces used heavy artillery and helicopter gunships to attack hideouts of suspected miscreants.
They said all routes leading to Bagan had been closed by the LEA and the military and that no one was allowed to enter the area.
Sectarian tensions rose in Kurram district in November last year after an attack on a convoy traveling from Parachinar to Peshawar. In the violence that followed, some 150 people lost their lives.
However, on January 1 the warring tribes signed an agreement under the auspices of a tribal Jirga in Kohat.
According to the peace agreement, local residents committed to hand over their weapons to the state in different phases within 15 days, while the dismantling of local bunkers must be completed by February 2025.
However, on January 4, a convoy of former Kurram Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud was attacked near Bagan area, resulting in injuries to the official and six members of his escort.
On January 13, the provincial government dismantled two bunkers out of hundreds set up by the two warring factions, but on January 16, unidentified gunmen launched a rocket attack on a convoy of 35 vehicles carrying fruits, vegetables, medicine and other essential items from Thall to the Bagan area.
The miscreant also kidnapped several people who were part of the convoy and a day later the bodies of six of them were discovered in the Aravali area of Kurram with their hands and feet tied.
Authorities on Sunday launched an operation against the miscreants after a high-level meeting in Peshawar. Operations against criminals continued for the second consecutive day.
Condemning the ongoing operation, a tribal elder from Bagan, Malik Iqbal Badshah, claimed that the rival group looted and then set fire to Bagan on November 22, sparking communal tensions.
“Now the government has also started an operation against the same people and at the same time has taken away their weapons,” he lamented. He said heavy firearms were also confiscated in the area in 2007 and 2013.
A resident of Bagan, Muhammad Afzal, said that people of Bagan are organizing a protest in Mandori. “We demand that people who suffered losses during a tribal raid in November be compensated and that those responsible for the attack and looting of Bagan be brought to justice,” he said.
