IT is probably for the first time that concrete details of the conflict in Kurram Agency have emerged following an in-camera briefing by officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration and intelligence operatives to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Human Rights. The committee was told that nearly 1,100 people have been killed in the area over the last five years while hundreds of houses have been torched. Though sectarian tensions in Kurram are not new, matters deteriorated significantly with the arrival of Taliban militants over the last few years. While the area's elected representatives reportedly told the meeting that the situation had improved since the arterial Thall-Parachinar road was reopened on Oct 30, it remains to be seen if it will remain safe for travel. True, only a few minor incidents are said to have occurred since then in contrast to the past when militants brazenly attacked convoys, killing or kidnapping passengers. However, there are signs that the effects of the conflict are far-reaching, as indicated by the kidnapping of members of the Turi tribe from the Rawalpindi-Islamabad area in the recent past.

Safe passage on the Thall-Parachinar road is one of the key elements to ensuring peace in the region. The road is Kurram's link to the rest of the country. Several peace deals have been signed in the past but none have managed to permanently end the Taliban blockade of the road or ensure an end to tribal hostilities. The army has repeatedly said it will open the road but this has not happened. An indefinite closure of the road only adds to the woes of the local people. Clearing Kurram of militants, ensuring safe passage for goods and people on the Thall-Parachinar road and clamping down on troublemakers who foment sectarian violence should top the military's agenda in the area. Central to all these goals is making sure 'non-local' militants don't have the freedom to rampage through the area and open and close roads at will. Unless the army permanently opens the road, its claim of gaining the upper hand over militants will ring hollow.