KOHAT: A jirga of the Kurram Agency has been postponed once again without reaching an agreement to end the sectarian disturbance that has engulfed the region since 2007.

Representatives of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat objected over the appointment of former state minister Malik Waris Khan Afridi of the Khyber Agency as chief negotiator.

They said a man who was awarded capital punishment in the past in a drug smuggling case and did not enjoy good reputation should not head the peace talks.

It may be recalled that the jirga had met for the first time in October 2008 and continued discussions for one week, but its efforts proved futile when the rival sectarian groups started fighting and kidnappings while ignoring the truce call announced by its members, mostly parliamentarians.

The second jirga met on June 15 this year and discussed the new developing situation for four days where the warring groups had again started fighting in scattered places.

The jirga stressed confidence-building measures on both sides and making the Kohat-Parachinar safe for journey, senior jirga member Attaullah Mengal told Dawn on Tuesday.

The members also raised the issue of alleged foreign interference in the region, which they blamed for fanning the sectarian tension.

Among others, Kurram Agency political agent Arshad Majeed Momand, NWFP government representative Malik Abdullah Jan and former senator Abdur Raheem attended the jirga proceedings.

The jirga presided over by Malik Waris and attended by 40 elders from both the sides agreed to constitute committees for making efforts for the release of 33 passengers taken hostage by extremist elements belonging to the rival sides from the Parachinar road.

The elders from the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat told the jirga that there were no hostages with them and 14 people from the rival side had been kidnapped by militants.

However, they said, the Tori tribe had made their 13 tribesmen hostage and they could prove through evidence about their whereabouts.

It is learnt that the people of the Tori tribe have been kidnapped by the Taliban and shifted to North Waziristan.

The elders of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat had offered the jirga that although they had no hand in the kidnappings they would contact the Taliban of North Waziristan and request them to release the Tori men.

And in return, the Tori tribe would release all their men and pay fine for allegedly violating the ceasefire agreement, reached during the last jirga held in Islamabad, by attacking and kidnapping passengers.