Orakzai elders pledge to maintain peace during Muharram

KALAYA: The Sunni and Shia religious sects Saturday assured the political administration of full support to maintain peace in Orakzai Agency during Muharram.
The assurance was given during a jirga of the representatives of the two communities held with Operation Commander 73 Brigade of the Pakistan Army, Brigadier Muhammad Ali in the chair.
Shad Muhammad Shinwari, Rahim Omar, Mufti Imran, Shabbir Ahmad Khan of the Sunni Supreme Council and Zaheer Hussain, Rahmat Hussain, Malik Irfan, Syed Abdullah Hussain Al-Hussaini and others of the Imamia Council represented their respective sects in the jirga.
Brigadier Ali asked the two religious factions to expel anti-social elements from their ranks and keep an eye on such miscreants to maintain peace in the area during Muharram.
He said that anti-state elements and forces were out to divide the nation on religious and ethnic grounds and pit the people against each others to create chaos and destabilise the country.
He informed that the security forces had established several checkpoints on the routes leading to Hangu from Orakzai to check possible entry of anti-social elements into the city.
The representatives of the two religious factions assured full support to the security forces in maintaining peace in their respective areas.