KOHAT: The army-brokered talks between the warring Sunnikhel and Akhorwal tribes of Darra Adamkhel tribal subdivision over ownership of coal mines failed to end the standoff between them, an official said on Monday.

All the stakeholders, including members of the tribes, administration and police officials, participated in the talks, the official said, adding that tensions had flared up between the two tribes after they resorted to firing at each other’s positions on Saturday. However, the army authorities intervened to end hostilities, the official added.

After the Monday’s talks, he said the army officials had referred the jirgas to assistant commissioner Ashrafuddin with the task of making the tribes to hold onto ceasefire and agree on demarcation of boundary.

The official, however, said there was a bleak chance of jirgas reaching an amicable solution to the dispute.

He said that the Sunnikhels were not ready to leave their area, which has been allegedly occupied by Akhowals, and sought to push the latter back to the demarcations ‘made by their forefathers’.

The official said that the tribes had been fighting over the coal mines since 2019.

He said that the Akhorwals were not willing to demolish a ‘fort’ constructed on the ‘occupied land’.

The official said that Sunnikhel ulema council headed by Abdul Wahid and chief of Akhorwal tribe Pir Ata Mohammad were participating in the talks brokered by the army.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2023