SUKKUR, Aug 2: More than eight-year-old tribal feud between Mahar and Chachar tribes was settled on Thursday in a Jirga of the tribal elders with PML-N leader Mir Manzoor Hussain Panhwar as Ameen.

The feud has claimed four lives and left several injured so far. The jirga was participated by former Zila Nazim Ghotki Sardar Ali Gohar Mahar as representative of the Mahars, Adviser to CM Sindh Haji Khan Chachar as representative of the Chachars, MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Pitafi and Federal Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah held at the circuit house here on Thursday.

According to details, the dispute had begun with the theft of a water pumping machine from a tube-well allegedly by men of the Chachar tribe in taluka Pano Akil in 2004.

The incident led an armed clash between the two groups in which three persons of Mahar tribe lost their lives while one from the Chachars, a landlord, was killed in retaliation.

According to the Jirga decision, three murders of Mahar tribemen were proved in the proceedings while murder of a member of Chachar tribe was acknowledged, besides injuries to their three other men.

Th jirga imposed a fine of Rs3.6m on the Chachar community and Rs18m on Mahar tribe, besides Rs200,000 against one serious injured and Rs100,000m against two injured Chachar tribesmen.

Both the tribes accepted the decision. Strict security measures were adopted around the circuit house where a large number of people belonging to the Mahar and Chachar communities were present.—BoC