SUKKUR, June 27: A high-level meeting was held between the chieftains of the Jatoi and Maher tribes at the Circuit House Sukkur under the chairmanship of Home Secretary Sindh Brig (retd) Mukhtiar Ahmed and IGP Sindh Syed Kamal Shah on Thursday.
It reviewed the latest situation between both the tribes after an armed clash on June 18 as a result of which 10 tribesmen were killed.
Both the Maher and Jatoi chieftains agreed to observer a ceasefire and assured the IGP, Sindh, and the home secretary that there would be no further bloodshed between them. They also promised not to give protection to any criminals.
They assured to hand over the tribesmen responsible for the killings.
A Jirga for settling the dispute will be held on July 11 at the Circuit House, which will be supervised by senior police and civil officials. Mir Sunder Khan Sundrani and Sardar Taigho Khan Teghani will also be included in the Jirga to represent the Jagiranis and Teghanis, who were also a party in the dispute between the Mahers and Jatois.
Prominent among those who attended the meeting were Sardar Khadim Husain Jatoi, Dr Ibrahim Jatoi, Abid Jatoi, Sardar Ali Gohar Maher, District Nazim (Ghotki) Ghous Baksh Maher, and District Nazim (Shikarpur) Arif Khan Maher. Senior police officers also attended the meeting.
JUDICIAL INQUIRY: Later, the IGP told a press conference that the home secretary had ordered a judicial inquiry into the armed clash, which was to be headed by the district sessions judge, Shikarpur.
They said in the light of the enquiry action would be taken against all those involved in the incident.
They said that the Jirga being held on July 11 for the purpose did not mean that those responsible in the killings would be freed. The main purpose was that the chiefs of the tribes be included in the policing.
The IGP said that he could not say whether the chieftains were behind all the bloodshed.
In reply to a question, he said that a big operation would soon be launched on the Sindh-Balochistan border for arresting the outlaws.
The Balochistan Government had promised to lend cooperation to act against such criminals, who were mostly Bugtis and some other Balochi tribes. He vowed to clean the area from outlaws soon.
The chief secretaries and IGP and governors of the two provinces had recently held a meeting regarding it, and soon a green signal will be given for the operation.
He said that a large number of dacoits had been eliminated in Sindh; however, there were some pockets where they were still hiding which would be cleared soon.
He said 300 vehicles at a cost of Rs366 million were being purchased for the Sindh police to make it into a strong force.
A huge amount was also being spent on the communication system and this was for the first time in the history of Sindh that a positive effort was being made to strengthen the force.
