PESHAWAR: The government in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday formed a ‘supervisory committee’ to implement measures aimed at restoring peace in the region’s Kurram district, which has been marred by deadly sectarian clashes since last month.
Sectarian feuding in Kurram has claimed at least 133 lives, with over 177 injured in sporadic clashes since Nov. 21. A grand jirga was formed last week to broker a truce after two previous deals to stymie the fighting failed. Last Friday, warring sides in Kurram agreed to an indefinite ceasefire.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram has a large Shiite population, and the communities have clashed for decades.
The provincial committee has also been formed in the backdrop of a rise in militancy in KP in recent months, with groups like the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, daily targeting security forces’ convoys and check posts, and carrying out targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials.
“The following Provincial Supervisory Committee is hereby constituted by the KP CM,” a notification by the KP Home and Tribal Affairs Department said, adding that the body would implement the provincial cabinet’s measures to ensure “stability and peace of the [Kurram] region.”
The body, which will meet weekly, will be headed by Muhammad Ali Saif, an adviser to the KP chief minister, and will be assisted by members of the civil administration and law enforcement agencies, the notification added, without giving any details of the exact mandate of the committee. 
Last week, an All Parties Conference organized by opposition parties in KP had blamed the federal and provincial governments for “failing” to address security challenges as the region faces a rise in militant attacks and weeks of sectarian feuding. 
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan is the ruling party in KP but did not attend the gathering.