PESHAWAR: Tribal elders from Pakistan’s northwestern Kurram region on Saturday called for negotiations with Afghanistan and the opening of cross-border trade routes during a consultative gathering arranged by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial administration to discuss the overall security situation in the region.

Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has launched a series of regional jirgas, or tribal councils, to deliberate on issues affecting the province, particularly its tribal districts, amid a surge of militant violence and counter-operations by security forces. The gatherings bring together tribal elders, local lawmakers and officials to find a way out of the current security situation in the area.

The last in the series brought together influential figures from Upper, Central and Lower Kurram, a former semi-autonomous tribal area bordering Afghanistan with a long history of violent conflicts that have claimed hundreds of lives. Last year alone, tribal clashes along sectarian lines in the district persisted for months, killing more than 100 people and displacing many more.

“For a permanent solution to the problem, a powerful council comprising federal and provincial governments, security agencies and local tribal elders should be formed to hold negotiations with Afghanistan, because Kurram’s peace is linked to Afghanistan,” the jirga said in its recommendations.

“Trade routes should be opened with Afghanistan to provide employment to the area’s residents,” it added.

Much of the country’s northwestern tribal belt has a narrow economic base, historically dependent on cross-border movement. Traditionally, residents of the areas crisscrossed between what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan, with tribal communities spread across both sides of the frontier.

Past efforts to launch livelihood projects in the area have also had limited impact.

Participants of Saturday’s jirga expressed appreciation for the provincial government’s efforts to restore stability in Kurram.

They said the residents of the district were united for peace and pledged to assist the government in any way necessary to maintain it.

“Peace is our basic need,” the jirga statement said. “If there is peace, there will be development.”

It added the people of Kurram opposed “all forms of terrorism” and stood by the government in efforts to counter it.

The gathering was also attended by provincial and national legislators from the district along with administrative and law enforcement officials.