PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has ordered the immediate arrest of suspects involved in the recent shooting at an aid convoy en route to the northwestern Kurram district, which has been rocked by sectarian and tribal clashes in recent weeks, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said on Sunday.
Saturday’s gun attack was carried out by unidentified men near Bagan, a tense locality in the district’s center, as Deputy Commissioner (DC) Javedullah Mehsud and other officials led an aid convoy to Kurram, leaving the top officials and four security men injured.
Kurram, a northwestern district of around 600,000 people in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been rocked by tribal and sectarian clashes since Nov. 21 when gunmen attacked a convoy of Shia passengers, killing 52.
The attack sparked further violence and blockade of a main road connecting Kurram’s main town of Parachinar with the provincial capital of Peshawar, causing medicine, food and fuel shortages in the area, as casualties surged to 136.
KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur held a meeting with senior provincial officials on Saturday night to take stock of the situation in Kurram after the incident, the CM Office said in a statement.
“People involved in the firing should be handed over to the law,” the statement said. “A first information report against all suspects involved in the shooting should be registered after which they should be immediately arrested.”
The statement said that after a peace agreement between the warring factions in Kurram, the responsibility for its violation falls on the people of the area. Participants of the meeting also decided to fix bounties on militants’ heads to eliminate them.
“No mercy will be shown to any terrorist nor will those who aid them be spared,” it added.
KP government spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif said on Saturday that Mehsud’s condition was out of danger. The official was leading a convoy of 17 trucks, which were carrying tents, blankets, medical kits, tarpaulins, solar lamps and sleeping bags when the attack occurred.
Kurram police spokesman Riaz Khan told Arab News that the attack injured DC Mehsud, his police guard and three members of the Frontier Corps (FC) paramilitary force.
Saturday’s gun attack came days after a grand jirga, or council of political and tribal elders formed by the KP provincial government, brokered a peace agreement between the warring Shia and Sunni tribes, following weeks of efforts.
Under the peace agreement signed on Wednesday, both sides had agreed on the demolition of bunkers and the handover of heavy weapons to the authorities within two weeks, but the attack on the aid convoy has once again cast a cloud on peace in the restive district.
According to the peace agreement, any party that launches an attack after the signing of the deal will be considered a “terrorist” and action will be taken against it. Another point of the agreement says that a fine of Rs10 million ($35,933) will be imposed on those who violate the terms of the deal by using weapons against each other.
Land disputes in the volatile district will be settled on a priority basis with the cooperation of local tribes and the district administration, according to the peace agreement. Opening of banned outfits’ offices will be prohibited in the district, while social media accounts spreading hate will be discouraged via collective efforts backed by the government.
