January 22, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 12, 1429

HANGU, Jan 21: A jirga-mediated truce restored calm to Hangu on Monday after clashes over the route of a Muharram procession threatened to engulf the town in lawlessness.

Over forty people were injured in the clahes on Sunday.

The tenuous truce held on Monday, but the city remained tense.

Officials said a 12-member jirga from the adjacent Orakzai Agency and a five-member local peace committee had brokered the three-month truce on Sunday.

“If any group violates the ceasefire, it will pay a Rs10 million fine to the government,” said District Coordination Officer Syed Shahab Ali Shah.

Clashes erupted when the peace committee failed to resolve a row over the route for the Ashura procession. Sources said one faction insisted that the procession pass through the main bazaar while the other was adamant that it should use the old route.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the peace committee had allowed a small procession to pass through a specified route after negotiations, but unidentified people fired on it and also attacked a helicopter providing cover to the procession.

The sources said the clashes erupted at around 12 noon on Sunday and continued till 11pm. Both sides used mortars, rockets and heavy machineguns.

Gunship helicopters were called in to help the law enforcement agencies restore law and order after the riots started spreading to more part of the town.

Doctors said that 38 wounded people, including five policemen and two women, had been brought to the district headquarters hospital.

Three paramilitary soldiers were also injured in the fighting. Four houses and a place of worship were set on fire.

However, the ISPR said that nine civilians and three personnel of the law enforcement agencies had been wounded.