KHYBER: Negotiations between district administration and a representative jirga of all Tirah tribal elders ended inconclusive on Monday as both sides firmly stuck to their respective positions on forced eviction of thousands of families before the start of a military operation after Eidul Azha.

Though Khyber House, where the jirga was held, issued no official statement about its proceedings, some participants told Dawn that the only ‘point’ both sides agreed on was that they would meet again on June 12 to find a workable solution to the existing situation in Tirah valley.

Maulana Hazrat Khan, a religious scholar from Malakdinkhel tribe, told Dawn that Tirah elders conveyed to deputy commissioner the unanimous decision of the Saturday’s jirga held in Bagh-Maidan Markaz that no forced displacement of their families was acceptable to them.

He, however, said that the deputy commissioner was insisting on temporary displacement of families from Shalobar and Zakhakhel areas in the first phase of military operation and then more families from Malakdinkhel, Bar Qambarkhel and Adamkhel in the second phase were to be shifted to camps, which were to be established in Mastak area near upper Bara.

Tribal elders oppose displacement, full-scale military operation

Official sources told this scribe that Provincial Disaster Management Authority was also intimidated through a message by military and district administration officials about establishing a camp for at least 17,000 displaced families soon after Eidul Azha.

Maulana Hazrat Khan said that officials were not willing to give them a timeframe about the duration of military operation and stay of displaced families in Mastak camp.

“The government wants to confront us with a Rajgal like situation where security forces had long ago claimed to have cleared the area but majority of Kukikhel families are still not allowed to go back to their homes on the pretext of insecurity,” he alleged.

He, however, said that district administration insisted on another such meeting on June 12 to find a ‘middle way’ to control the existing situation in Tirah.

A similar jirga was held at Khyber House on Thursday when Peshawar Commissioner Riaz Mehsud conveyed to both Tirah and Bara elders and public representatives the government’s intention of initiating a ‘full-scale’ military operation in areas of the valley where terrorists groups concentrated during the last few months.

Mufti Kafeel, Bara tehsil chairman, who met with Tirah elders after the meeting told Dawn that no final agreement could be reached at Khyber House as Tirah elders were adamant about any forced displacement and insisted that they would only agree to a temporary and internal displacement for a limited operation.

He said that the experience of temporary internal displacement had already been tried in the recent past and was found successful and convenient to Tirah residents as against an unspecified period of time of their displacement to a far off locality.

Mufti Kafeel said that a jirga of all the Tirah and Bara elders along with elected representatives, politicians and parliamentarians would be held in Bara on June 15 to evolve a consensus about planned military operation in Tirah and government’s intentions about evicting thousands of families before the start of operation.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2025