PESHAWAR  – A grand Tribal Jirga of Khyber Agency has given a 48-hour deadline to Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and political administration of Khyber Agency to meet their demands, otherwise they threatened to launch a series of protest demonstrations.
The tribal jirga held here at Bagh-e-Naraan Hayatabad on Saturday, in which besides a large number of tribal elders, leaders of the different religious and political parties, students, leaders of Tehreek Mutasireen-Bara (movement for the affectees of Bara) and people from all walks of life participated. During the meeting, the tribal elders strongly condemned the killing of 18 tribesmen, and the use of forces by the administration against the peaceful protestors at the sit-in outside the Governor’s House.
The Jirga also formed a committee consisting of PPP leader and former minister for State, Malik Waris Khan Afridi, ANP leader Malik Imran Afridi and Malik Hanan to negotiate with the political administration in this regard.
The Jirga demanded an impartial probe into the killing of 18 innocent tribesmen by a Judicial Commission and extend compensation package to the bereaved families. They also asked to immediately lift the years long curfew imposed in tehsil Bara, open main bazzar for trade activities and end all kinds of military operations in Khyber Agency.
The Jirga also warned to launch a series of protest demonstrations, if the rulers fail to meet their demands in two days.
PTI leader demands end to
mly op in tribal areas
Meanwhile, leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from different tribal agencies have demanded end to security forces operations in tribal areas, and called for opting a peaceful way to resolve all the issues in tribal areas especially in Khyber Agency.
Addressing a news conference here at the Press Club here on Saturday, PTI FATA Chapter Chief Organizer, Dr Bashir, said that the tribal people were confronted with worse difficulties due to the prolonged military presence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
“The tribesmen are not terrorists and patriotism of the 80 million tribesmen shouldn’t be doubted, as they are playing an important role to safeguard the frontiers of the State,” he remarked.
Despite the major sacrifices rendered by the tribesmen, he alleged that FATA has been turned into a battlefield for the last one decade, where the tribal people were kept deprived of even basic human rights of free education and health facilities. He held the incumbent rulers responsible for the prevailing bad law and order situations in tribal region.
He criticized the ANP-led provincial government for raising hollow slogans regarding peace in the province and claiming to have followed the policy of no-violence, but didn’t do on ground in this regard.
Expressing grave concerns over the humiliation of death bodies of 18 tribesmen during a sit-in outside the Governor’s House Peshawar, he asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor to step down and the provincial government to tender apology for the episode. The tribal leader also alleged that Fata has been deliberately kept backward in all spheres of life, as the business activities were shut in the wake of the prolonged military operation in tehsil Bara, Khyber Agency.
Dr Bashir also alleged that the tribal people were traumatized due to the indiscriminate shelling from gunship helicopters and bombardments upon civilians in FATA where a large number of innocent people including women, children and aged were killed.
He also criticized their elected representatives from FATA for their alleged failure to mitigate the sufferings of their own tribal people. He also demanded an impartial probe into the killing of 18 tribesmen in Khyber Agency, and to halt the ongoing military operations in Fata.