HANGU, June 16: A jirga comprising ulema on Wednesday failed to settle a dispute between Mushti and Sheikhan tribes in the lower Orakzai Agency. The Mushti and Sheikhan tribes were engaged in a fight over the ownership of a coal mine in the area.

The two tribes had been exchanging fire for the last three days as the local ulema and tribal elders put in efforts to bring them to negotiation table. After the jirga failed to effect ceasefire between the warring tribes, residents of the area started shifting to safer places as the exchange of fire intensified.

According to eyewitnesses, the two tribes used modern weapons to attack each other's positions. The political administration had also detained many tribesmen from the two sides to stop the fighting, but the witnesses said there was no let-up in the firing.

The jirga was constituted by the APA lower Orakzai Agency. Sources said that the jirga members, who included MNA Akhunzada Mohammad Siddiq, ex-MNA Javed Ibrahim Paracha, Sunni Supreme Council Hangu chairman Maulana Abdullah, Maulana Mohammad Amin, MMA Hangu Amir Mufti Din Azhar and others, went to the Chappar Mushti area in the lower Orakzai Agency and exhorted the tribesmen to hold fire, but they failed.

Mr Paracha said that the jirga failed due to uncompromising attitude of the two tribes. The sources said that the administration had also made a plan to take over possession of the disputed property if the tribes refused to reconcile and settle the dispute.