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| October 05, 2006 | Thursday | Ramazan 11, 1427 |
Clashes continue in Orakzai Agency
KOHAT, Oct 4: Sporadic clashes between supporters of two groups over the ownership of a shrine in Orakzai Agency continued for the third day on Wednesday amid fears that the violence might spread to other areas.
Sources said armed tribesmen were moving from different parts of the agency to Kalaya. They said that more than 750 armed men arrived on Wednesday from different areas in Kalaya, the headquarters of Orakzai Agency, on the call of a jirga to support 15 Sunni tribes in the dispute.
The jirga, according to the sources, was presided over by Akhunzada Mohammad Aslam Farooqui, chief of the local Taliban, on Tuesday.
It requested other tribes to come to the area with weapons and ammunition to take part in the fight which started on Monday night.
Officials said 600 soldiers from the IXth division of the army stationed at the Kalaya headquarters were waiting for orders to enter Layra, where clashes are taking place and take action against the tribes involved.
An official in the office of the assistant political agent, Orakzai Agency, told Dawn that fresh contingents of Kurram Militia had arrived from Parachinar on Wednesday to handle the situation.
Both sides have used heavy weapons in the clashes.
Federal Culture Minister Dr G.G. Jamal, who belongs to the Orakzai Agency, rushed from Islamabad to Kalaya to initiate talks and negotiate a ceasefire.
The sources said that despite the presence of heavy contingents of paramilitary troops the agency’s political administration had failed to stop the clashes.
Meanwhile, one group demolished the shrine of Khalil Baba in Feroze Khel area a couple of furlongs from Kalaya on Wednesday, after which the situation worsened, the sources said.
The rival sect has occupied a seminary in the area.
The shrine of Mian Anwar Shah has been disputed for the past 150 years. The British government had accepted the claim of Sunnis over it.
An elder of the area, Inayatullah, said that about 12 years back representatives of the Shia community requested construction of a tomb at the shrine and permission for weekly visits, which was allowed.
He said so far two bodies had been found since the clashes began.
He said the number of casualties would be ascertaining only after the firing stopped.
An official claimed that the rival groups had stopped using heavy weapons but said the fighting was continuing.
He said that according to some unconfirmed reports the death toll was five.
The authorities failed to convene a jirga of both the groups to stop firing and initiate talks.
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