PESHAWAR: Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday urged the government to probe the recent violence in Kurram tribal district and ascertain how terrorist organisations infiltrated the region to threaten public life.

During an assembly session chaired by Deputy Speaker Suriya Bibi, member of the ruling PTI from Upper Kurram Abdul Hadi highlighted the brutality of the recent incidents and complained about the killing of a six-month-old child and the shooting of a four-year-old girl in her mouth during an attack on a convoy headed for Parachinar.

He said those committing such heinous crimes were no less than beasts.

Mr Hadi said the armed people involved in the killing of innocent civilians, including children and women, had nothing to do with Islam as Muslims never killed people without any sin.

Complain about ‘discrimination’ in funds distribution to local bodies

He said social media and other platforms pointed out terrorist outfits involved in the recent violence, so the government should conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the truth.

The lawmaker said the residents of Upper Kurram visited religious places in other countries but that didn’t denote that they were not Pakistanis.

“We are Pakistani and have been living lives here in line with the Pakistani Constitution and laws,” he said.

Mr Hadi alleged that terrorists from across the border were involved in violence.

“The government should conduct a probe into who are the supporters and facilitators of terrorists in Kurram,” he said.

Another lawmaker from Lower Kurram Riaz Shaheen alleged that if an operation against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan could be conducted in Kurram, why that couldn’t happen against other terrorist outfits.

He also demanded a government probe into the presence of terrorist organisations in the region and the hoisting of their flags on some bunkers during the recent clashes.

The MPA said residents of the Bagan area were killed and their houses and markets were torched the night after an attack on a convoy of vehicles.

“People of the Bagan area were not involved in the convoy attack,” he said, adding that a local TTP commander took responsibility for the terrorist act.

Mr Shaheen also demanded that the government investigate the use of heavy weapons in the recent clashes and from where they came in.

He urged the government to collect heavy weaponry from warring groups in the “larger interest” of the residents.

MPA Makhdoom Syed Aftab came down hard on the provincial government over “discrimination” in the release of development funds to tehsil councils and declared that act a violation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013, and Provincial Finance Commission Award.

He said the provincial government was bound by the LG Act to release 20 per cent of total annual development programme funding to local bodies.

The lawmaker, however, said the provincial government had released development funds to 56 out of 130 tehsil councils whose chairmen belonged to the ruling PTI.

He said the PTI had been ruling KP for the last 11 years but it had done nothing for the people who elected it to power for three consecutive times.

“The PTI has failed to improve education and health facilities and is unable to declare a proper economic policy to put the province on the track of development,” he said.

The chair adjourned the session until next Monday.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024