KHYBER: The district administration has failed to convince a jirga of the Kukikhel elders to ask their tribesmen, mostly youth, to end the blockade of the main Peshawar-Torkham highway, which entered the 15th day on Wednesday, despite assurance about finding a way to ensure early return of the remaining displaced families.

Sources privy to the meeting held at the Khyber House the other day told Dawn that deputy commissioner Captain retired Sanaullah Khan wanted the Kukikhel elders to negotiate a deal with the organisers of the protest to end the road blockade.

They said the DC assured them that he would convey all the issues of the protesting Kukikhels to the military and civil authorities in order to devise a mechanism for the dignified return of the remaining displaced families.

It was also learnt that the DC told the jirga that the matter was related to the military establishment, and as there was greater number of the remaining families, it required some time to make suitable and adequate arrangements for their return.

Jirga participant says govt ‘non-committal’ on early return of IDPs

The sources said the DC expressed his willingness to announce a comprehensive relief package for the returning families but with the consent and approval of the authorities concerned.

The jirga members, however, expressed their inability to help broker a deal with the protesters for ending their blockade of the road as their grievances were genuine and it was the responsibility of the government to honour its commitment of devising a plan for early return of the Kukikhel IDPs.

“The Kukikhels were forced to start protest after the government failed to make arrangements for a dignified and safe return of all the remaining families,” said a participant of the jirga.

He said that the state had failed to fulfil its responsibility of restoring peace in the Tirah valley, and ensure return of displaced families back to their homes despite passage of 14 years since they were uprooted from their houses.

The jirga participant said upon the elders’ refusal to help end the protest, the DC asked for some more time to take their massage to the authorities concerned.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami’s former senator Mushtaq Ahmad also visited the Bhagiyaree protest camp on Wednesday and expressed his party’s complete solidarity with the Kukikhel tribe.

Addressing the protesters, he said denying permission to Kukikhel families to go back to their homes was tantamount to violation of their human rights as the tribesmen had rendered numerous sacrifices for restoration of peace in their region.

He said the people of merged districts had become fed up with “war for dollars” and would strongly resist any insurgency on their soil.

He assured the Kukikhel tribesmen that his party would firmly stand behind them in these ‘trying’ times.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024