KHAR, Jan 27: A jirga comprising elders from Bajaur and Mohmand agencies settled a 38-year-old enmity between two tribes, at a ceremony held at Nawagi here on Sunday.Tribal elders and senior officials from both the agencies and members of peace committees were present on the occasion.

The enmity between the Mohmand and the Miagan tribes of Momand and Bajaur agencies continued for about four decades claiming 22 lives.

To settle the dispute, the administrations of both the agencies had formed a jirga of elders of various sub tribes of Mohmand and Bajaur. The jirga held several meetings with the rival groups and succeeded in making the warring tribes to reconcile.

“The settlement of the dispute between the rival tribes was a great success for us because we had been working on it for the last three years,” a jirga member told Dawn. The elders of both the tribes forgave each other and declared that they would live like brothers in future.

Speaking at the ceremony, elders of both the agencies said local disputes and enmities had affected peace in the region. “It’s the time that tribesmen ended their personnel enmities because the disputes disturbed peace,” they said.

Members of the jirga, including Haji Gul Wali Mohmand, Mufti Said Noor Shah, Qazi Abdul Manan, Sheikh Jan Zada and Malik Subidar addressed the jirga and warned that those disturbing peace would be punished.

INJURED: A woman and her daughter were seriously injured when in a gas cylinder blast in a house in Khar town on Sunday. Locals said two women were cooking food in the kitchen when the gas cylinder burst, injuring them seriously. The kitchen and a room of the house were also damaged in the blast.

The victims were identified as Zahida Begum and her daughter Zubida. They were shifted to the agency headquarters hospital Khar, where doctors said the condition of Zubida was critical. —Correspondent