Clashes continue in Pak’s Kurram despite ceasefire, toll climbs to 130

The death toll from sectarian violence in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province surged to 130, with at least six people killed and eight injured on Sunday, as clashes in the volatile Kurram district continued for the eleventh consecutive day.

The clashes between Alizai and Bagan tribes in the district started on November 22, after an attack on a convoy of passenger vans near Parachinar in which 47 people were killed a day earlier. Several passengers who had sustained grave injuries succumbed later, raising the toll in the convoy killing to 57.

Police said the situation remained tense, and violence persists despite a recent ceasefire agreement between the Sunni and Shia groups.

The six new deaths reported on Sunday brought the death toll to 130, while the total number of injured rose to 186 after eight fresh injuries were reported. The 10-day truce brokered last week has been rendered ineffective by intermittent violence, which shows no signs of abating.

A high-powered delegation, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry and IGP Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, had also negotiated a ceasefire last weekend, but violence resumed shortly afterwards.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi earlier planned to dispatch members of the grand peace jirga (council of tribal leaders) from Kohat division to Kurram for engaging with leaders from both warring factions to negotiate peace. Addressing a gathering of political leaders and tribal elders in Kohat on Sunday, he called for strict action with public cooperation to make the region weapon-free through joint operations.

He said he was ready to go to Kurram and stay there for as many days as the jirga suggested to ensure peace.