MANSEHRA: The Akazai and Gujjar tribes torched over two dozen houses of each other over a land dispute in Torghar district on Saturday.

However, no damage to public life was reported.

The district government called a jirga on Sept 25 to defuse tensions, where the representatives of all tribes from the district and deputy commissioner and district police officer will be in attendance.

District nazim Dilroz Khan told reporters here on Saturday that both Akazai and Gujjar tribes had agreed that they won’t cultivate or harvest crops at the disputed land but the latter violated the agreement and cut grass there enraging the tribesmen of the former, set fire to their houses.

He said the Gujjars later torched the houses of Akazais prompting the police to register an FIR against both tribes.

The nazim said the houses were destroyed in Khane Lari and Chuar area of Torghar district but no one was hurt in the incident.

He said a jirga of all five tribes settled in the district for centuries had been called to sort out the dispute permanently.

The nazim said the deputy commissioner and district police officer would also attend jirga along with elders of local tribes.

Torghar was a tribal area of Mansehra district until 2011 when the country’s president declared it a settled district but the local residents continue to look to the jirga system for the resolution of major disputes.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2018