KOHAT: A jirga of Gadiakhel clan of the Akhorwal tribe of Darra Adamkhel decided on Tuesday to suspend transportation of coal and close the weight machine from Wednesday (today) to protest ‘inequality’in the distribution of coal profit among three tribes of the region.

It merits a mention here that discovery of huge reserves of coal has changed the lives of the tribesmen for the better, majority of whom used to run arms manufacturing shops.

An elder, Malik Azam, while speaking at the jirga, highlighted the discrepancy in payment of coal profit as he said Gadiakhel tribe got only Rs16,000 per head against Rs40,000 each paid to Pirwalkhel and Balachikhel tribes per head per month.

He said the Gadiakhel tribe would allow excavation of coal, but wouldn’t allow its transportation until equal payment of profit was made.

The Gadiakhel tribesmen had also staged a 140-day-long protest over the inequality in distribution of coal profit among the three tribes.

The jirga members, however, said they had no intention to cause any loss to any tribe, but wanted a solution to the problem in a peaceful manner.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024