LANDI KOTAL, June 18: Keeping in view the deteriorating law and order situation in Bara tehsil of the Khyber Agency, elders from the seven Afridi tribes on Thursday formed yet another peace committee after having dissolved a similar body two weeks ago.

The newest peace committee is the eighth of its kind in the last 15 years. The members of the newly-formed committee, under its head Maulana Ahmad Khan Shalobar, visited Bara soon after its formation on Thursday and issued stern warnings to the outlaws.

The committee comprises four elders, two religious scholars and 10 volunteers from all the seven tribes of Bara. The crime rate in Bara has been rising for the last three months so the political administration too encouraged the formation of the peace committee.

Of late Bara has become a sanctuary for the anti-social elements. Kidnappings for ransom, robberies and murders have become the order of the day. More than 10 people were killed and half-a-dozen kidnapped for ransom by unidentified gunmen last month. A hardware dealer, a milk seller and a young man from Darra Adamkhel were abducted at gunpoint in the span of only four days.

Only recently the Bara trading body had expressed its dissatisfaction over the increase in the crime rate and the insecurity it had created among the trading community.

A case in point is the kidnapping of a cloth merchant, Haji Sargand Mohmand, who was kidnapped at gunpoint right in front of the offices of the political administration three weeks ago. The political administration of Bara is still without a clue in this case.