SUKKUR, June 19: An eighteen-year-old dispute, which started over a plot of land, was resolved by a high-level jirga held in the Sukkur circuit house on Sunday. Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim was present at the jirga while provincial minister Manzoor Panhwar acted as Ameen.

Many Sardars from the upper Sindh and influential people of the area attended jirga.

The meeting gave patient hearing to Jatoi and Mahar groups regarding killings, injuries suffered by people and damages caused to property in clashes.

In all, 28 murders were proved with 14 each from the sides.

An amount of Rs300,000 per killed person was fixed as fine which would be payable to the heirs of the deceased.

Announcing the verdict, secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Sindh, Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, said Mahar and Jatoi groups would pay Rs4.2 million each as fine and would deposit the amount with Sukkur DCO Shafiq Khoso in instalments and the first instalment of Rs1.4 million would be deposited on July 3.

He said the decision for injured people would be announced later after collecting complete information in this regard.

It was also decided that in the future a fine of Rs1 million would be imposed on the murderer.

Maulana Soomro made it clear that it was reconciliation meeting not a ‘jirga’.

It may be mentioned that jirga has been banned by the Sindh High Court.

Those who attended the jirga include Sardar Khadim Hussain Jatoi, Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar, Arib Mahar, Federal Minister for Narcotics Sardar Ghous Bux Mahar, Karam Ellahi Mahesar, Faiz Mohammad Mahar, Dr Ibrahim Jatoi, Mir Abid Jatoi, District Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and DCO Shafiq Khoso.

Hundreds of people from Shikarpur, Ghotki and Sukkur districts attended the jirga and two separate camps were set up for the rival groups. Strict security measures were adopted.

The bloody dispute, wrongly propagated as ‘tribal dispute’, started in the year 1986-87 over a piece of land in Pheri village near Chak town, Shikarpur district.

Earlier, jirgas were held to resolve the dispute but Sardars failed to implement verdicts.

The last jirga was held in 2003 at the Sukkur circuit house and Sardars failed to implement verdict after which 28 more people were killed.

Total 250 people of Mahar and Jatoi sides were killed in the dispute.