Jirga participants say being a ‘soft target’ of militants they have lost the ability to handle ‘critical’ situations after Fata-KP merger
Police register FIRs against four over their speeches in Tirah peace rally

KHYBER: Security officials in Khyber have said that zero tolerance policy will be adopted against those people, who are found harbouring, patronising or having any type of association with militants and terrorists in the region.

Sector Commander Brig Mansoor Ahmad and the commandant of Bara Rifles told a selected group of tribal elders, representatives of political parties and civil society members during a jirga at Fort Salop in Bara on Saturday that terrorists were the enemies of Pakistan and the people of the country.

They said their nefarious anti-state designs could be thwarted with collective efforts of the law enforcement agencies and tribal, political and civil society leadership.

They called upon the participants of the jirga to help the security agencies in locating the hideouts and cells of terrorists for their complete eradication from the region. “Terrorists are targeting mosques, police and FC checkposts. They are also targeting security installations and killing our soldiers to which we could not give them any relaxation as none of us is safe from this menace,” Brig Masoor Ahmad told the jirga.

He assured the jirga members of complete support in restoring lasting peace in the region. However, he also demanded of the tribal elders to play their ‘historic’ role of collective responsibility by partially shouldering the maintenance of law and order responsibility.

Some participants of the jirga, however, made it clear to the two high ranking security officials that after the merger of erstwhile Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, they had lost their authority and ability to handle such ‘critical’ situations.

They said that they too were victims of the decade-long militancy and were considered a “soft target” by militants as security forces and district administration failed to provide security to them.

They reminded the security officials that the rapid deterioration of law and order in Khyber in particular and other tribal districts in general was an offshoot of the merger of tribal areas with KP.

“It is now totally out of question that tribal elders would commit themselves for accepting any collective responsibility. The responsibility of restoration of peace and tackling the menace of militancy is handed over to the security forces,” they said during the jirga, which was held in the backdrop of a large peace rally in Tirah valley on July 25.

Matters pertaining to return of remaining displaced families of Kukikhel tribe and execution of development schemes also came under discussion during the jirga to which the security officials pledged their full support.

Meanwhile, police in Tirah registered FIRs against four persons for allegedly making defamatory speeches during the July 25 peace rally and raising objectionable slogans against the law enforcement agencies, security forces and army.

ASI Mohammad Zaman of Tirah police station nominated Khan Wali, Jamaat-i-Islami Khyber emir, Malak Naseer, a Kukikhel elder, Abdul Ghani, a local Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader, and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement activist Hussain Ahmad.

Sources, however, said that Hussain Ahmad did not participate in the peace rally while police in Bara conducted raids on the house and office of JI leader Khan Wali but he could not be arrested as he was not present at any of the two locations during raids.

Bara Siyasi Ittehad has strongly condemned the registration of FIRs against the four persons and alleged that such tactics were meant to silence the ‘voices of peace’ in the region.

It said that local political leadership would not succumb to such pressures and would continue to strive for the restoration of peace in Tirah and other parts of Khyber.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2023