KHYBER: A jirga of Tirah elders will meet banned militant groups operating in Tirah in order to persuade them to leave the valley.

The decision was taken during a meeting of elders from different tribes of Khyber with Inspector General Frontier Corps Maj Gen Rao Imran Sartaj, commissioner Peshawar Riaz Mehsud and other security and administrative officials held at FC Headquarters in Balahisar Fort the other day.

Sources among the participants told Dawn that the IGFC initially told the tribal elders that either the militants had to leave the area voluntarily or the local tribes shall force them to leave.

They said the IGFC had also made it clear upon the tribal elders with some political parties’ representatives also among them that failure to force the militants to leave Tirah valley would leave the security forces with only option of launching a decisive military operation against them.

Sources said that the delegates among the meeting opposed to take up arms against the militant groups and instead suggested that a representative jirga of selected Tirah elders would meet local militant commanders and convey to them the official message.

Sources added that the jirga asked for at least 10 days to meet the militant commanders in Tirah and then bring back the message from them. It was also agreed during the meeting that no operation would be conducted by the security forces till the Tirah elders completed their negotiations with local militants.

During the meeting a proposal about a grand jirga of all major tribes from merged districts visiting Kabul and discussing the existing security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also came under discussion.

The proposal was however rejected by elders from Bara and Tirah who wanted a focused discussion with militant groups operating in Tirah in order to restore peace in the valley.

The Thursday’s meeting was held in the backdrop of Sept 22 incident of aerial bombing in Shadalay area of Tirah in which local sources had claimed that 21 people which included 18 from a single family lost their lives.

Officials sources had them insisted that the incident was a result of a blast in an ammunition depot which was established by some local militant commanders for bomb manufacturing.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Bara and Tirah elders left for Tirah on Friday in order to establish contacts with local heads of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Islam and Hafiz Gul Bahadar group.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2025