HANGU, Feb 12: Hangu was calm but tense on Sunday and a 24-member peace committee, comprising elders of both sects, held its first meeting to enforce a ceasefire agreement.
The meeting decided to set up a permanent peace committee and a number of sub-committees to restore peace and assess the damage caused by Thursday’s blasts and subsequent clashes.
The members said they would meet again on Feb 15 after the elders explained to people details of the agreement and their decision to form a permanent peace committee.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Abdul Majeed Marwat, District Coordination Officer Ameeruddin Mahsud and District Nazim Ghaniur Rehman also attended the meeting.
The meeting urged the government to pay compensation for deaths, injuries, damage and looting during the violence.
It called upon the provincial government to take effective measures to restore peace in the city.
Despite overall calm, reports of sporadic gunfights were received from the Ibrahimzai village, while some people tried to set on fire a mosque on fire in Hangu.
The authorities have started deploying army in the Ibrahimzai area to dislodge combatants from their positions.
Hospital sources said three of the 43 who died during the violence were still unidentified. They put the number of injured at 143.
Power supply to most of the affected localities was not restored till Sunday evening and the city’s main bazaar remained closed.
About 390 shops in the bazaar were destroyed or damaged during the violence.
There is shortage of food and other items of daily use and prices of essential commodities in the district have increased manifold.
The ISPR said in a press release issued in Peshawar on Sunday that troops had taken positions on hilltops around the town and set up checkpoints on all entry and exit points.
Troops were patrolling the affected areas and the situation was under control. No incident of violence had been reported.
The army was in close liaison with the ulema of different schools of thought, peace committee and elders of the affected area, it said.
Patients and other people stranded in various areas have been taken to different places by the security forces. Entry to the main bazaar was still restricted to avert looting, the ISPR said.