GILGIT / MANSEHRA: An armed clash over a boundary dispute at the Diamer-Bhasha dam site between people of Diamer district, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Kohistan district of KPK has claimed five lives and left 15 people injured over the past two days.
“Yes, four people, three of them from Kohistan, and one from Chilas, have been killed over the boundary dispute, but the situation is now under control as police have reached there and both sides have left their mountain bases,” said Akhtar Hayyat Khan Gandapur, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Hazara range, on Friday.
He said both sides had agreed to hold a jirga on Saturday to calm down tempers and to maintain peace till the Supreme Court decided the matter.
Those killed in the clash were identified as Rehmat Islam, Zargani, Nusratullah and Umerullah. The fifth victim remained unidentified till late in the night.
“Would you believe that there is no communication system and it takes a lot of time either to report any incident or to reach there in time because of the problem,” the DIG complained.
Police, personnel of Rangers and Gilgit Baltistan Scouts have already reached the area.
Talking to Dawn, Diamer Deputy Commissioner Shahbaz Taher said the injured people had been taken to hospitals in Kohistan and Diamer districts.
Faizullah Faraq, a journalist in Diamer, said that the people of Thore valley of the Diamer district, Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Harban valley of the Kohistan district of KPK had been locked in a dispute over the past two months over a 20-kilometre pasture area in Gandlo Nala.
In January, the federal government confiscated the disputed area from both sides and deployed personnel of Rangers and police in the region.
The Supreme Court has constituted a commission to resolve the matter, but it has yet to start its work.
Maulanan, Mufti Mehboob Alam, a former MPA, said that the government should take a prompt action to settle the issue. He said the federal government as well as the GB and KP governments should sit together to address the issue on a permanent basis.
He said the matter should be resolved immediately to prevent more bloodshed.
