LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), Dec 28: A jirga comprising elders of all seven Afridi sub-tribes will leave for Gogrina on Friday to broker a ceasefire between warring Lashkar-i-Islam and Ansaar-ul-Islam groups in Tirah.

The jirga was convened by the Khyber Agency political administration at the Khyber House on Thursday which was also attended by elders from South and North Waziristan, Bajaur, Mohmand and Orakzai agencies.

Official sources told Dawn that the jirga was given a firm commitment by supporters of Ansaar-ul-Islam for a ceasefire before Eid-ul-Azha.

The Khyber Agency political administration is under criticism from various quarters for its failure to control the deteriorating law and order situation in Tirah for 10 months.

Assistant political agent Riaz Mehsood expressed the hope that the jirga efforts would bear fruitful results.

He said that ‘other options’ would be used to restore peace if the ceasefire could not be effected.

A number of Khyber Agency elders also expressed their dissatisfaction over official handling of the Tirah situation.

They said that the political agent had never bothered to meet jirga members regarding the working of jirga.

Some of the elders believed that the Thursday jirga was also an eye-wash and was an effort to cover up the official failure on Tirah front.

Earlier, a 13-member jirga led by Senator Hamidullah Jan had to abandon its efforts midway after Lashkar-i-Islam amir Mangal Bagh refuse to meet the jirga.