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or over two decades, terrorism has devastated our lands. Our elders and security officials—both soldiers and policemen—have been martyred; our homes destroyed. We have been living like refugees. All we only want now is for this violence to end.”
These were the words of a tribal elder from Khyber district. He had been part of a peace jirga (council of elders) negotiating with Afghan militants in the Tirah valley.
Clashes continued in Tirah where an Army check post was recently attacked, resulting in the death of 11 soldiers.
The jirga’s efforts represent yet another attempt by local elders to broker peace with militant groups operating in Pakistan’s tribal belt—an effort that like many before it, appears on the verge of collapse. Despite decades of military operations and multiple local initiatives, the militants remain active and violence continues to plague the merged districts.
In July 2025, elders from Bara’s Qambarkhel tribe travelled to Afghanistan to negotiate with armed groups sheltering there. Their goal was to convince them not to launch attacks in Pakistan and to avoid provoking new military operations in the Tirah valley.
Initially, some jirga members claimed success, saying the militants had agreed to respect the elders’ appeal and halt hostilities. But security sources confirmed that armed groups remain in the region and have continued to ambush security convoys and attack outposts.
“The jirga tried its best,” says one elder. “But these militants don’t answer to anyone here. They take their orders from across the border.”
The Tirah valley, which has already seen large-scale military operations to flush out the militants, has again become a flashpoint of militant resurgence. Many of the fighters are believed to have come from eastern Afghanistan after regrouping under the umbrella of (the banned) Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
The story of failed jirgas is not unique to Tirah or Khyber. In late July 2025, Bajaur district witnessed a tense standoff between militants and security forces that led to a three-day curfew across 16 villages followed by intelligence-based operations. After intelligence reports suggested a buildup of militants near the Afghan border and a surge in target killings of tribal elders and police personnel, the administration formed a 50-member peace jirga to open dialogue with the militants. The jirga made two straightforward proposals: armed groups should either return to Afghanistan or relocate away from civilian populations.
Obaidullah, a jirga member from Salarzai, says that their aim was to “persuade the militants to live like normal citizens, to replace guns with political struggle.”
The talks quickly unravelled. According to Obaidullah, the militants wanted to retain weapons, move freely up to Malakand and control certain areas. “At one point, we heard that they were being told from Afghanistan, ‘You were sent to fight a war, not to hold talks,’” the jirga member says.
Within days, the negotiations collapsed. Security forces, relying on fresh intelligence, launched targeted operations in Bajaur and claimed to have cleared most villages of militants.
The people of Bajaur, Khyber, Mohmand and other merged districts say they are exhausted. Years of displacement, destruction and fear have drained their patience.
“When the army launched operations in 2009 and 2010, most militants fled to Afghanistan,” Obaidullah recalls. “Now, many have come back and resumed attacks. This time, over 95 percent of the population is opposed to them. The tiny minority is responsible for the chaos.”
In Tirah, a resident speaking on the condition of anonymity, says the militants have made life unbearable. “We cannot leave our homes after sunset. They demand protection money, force people to provide them food and shelter and occasionally barge into people’s homes to search for weapons,” he says.
The fear is widespread. Even discussing the militants can be dangerous. “People want peace now,” another elder from Tirah says. “They don’t care who brings it.”
The recent jirgas are not the first. In May 2022, tribal elders, clerics and officials had held talks with the TTP in Afghanistan. Those negotiations, facilitated by the Afghan Taliban, also failed to produce results. In fact, security breaches increased in the months that followed.
According to the Counter-Terrorism Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded over 750 terrorism-related cases in the first six months of 2025. These included 80 improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, five suicide bombings, 12 rocket or missile attacks, 35 grenade attacks and nearly 270 incidents of gunfire targeting police, officials and civilians.
Overall, the province has witnessed more than 280 terrorist attacks this year, making 2025 one of the deadliest years since the merger of the former FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
North Waziristan, Bajaur and Khyber remain the most affected districts. Targeted killings, ambushes and IED blasts occur almost weekly.
Locals point to several reasons for the collapse of jirga-based peace efforts. Many militant groups, especially the TTP, have made demands that no state or community can accept. These include territorial control, freedom to carry arms and immunity from prosecution.
Also, jirgas operate on trust and tribal honour. There is no legal enforcement, monitoring or accountability after an agreement is announced. Military operations and jirga initiatives often run parallel. This undermines the credibility of the jirga.
The militants’ ability to regroup from Afghanistan too are a factor. As long as cross-border sanctuaries exist, localised peace remains fragile.
Defence analyst Brig Said Nazir Mohmand (retired) believes Pakistan’s reliance on jirgas was rooted in good intentions. “The war on terror dragged on for two decades. Pakistan assumed that after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, the situation would stabilise. Instead, the opposite happened.”
According to him, the Taliban administration has not acted against groups like the TTP. “These militants continue to get weapons, money and logistic support across the border. The local jirgas have failed because the problem is transnational.”
“After the failure of jirgas, the military has intensified covert operations. Every day, there are reports of militant losses in Khyber, Bajaur, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Waziristan. But without political stability and governance, military action alone cannot ensure peace.”
Security forces have gained ground in many areas, but stability remains fragile.
While tribal jirga is a centuries-old tradition, its legal status after the 2018 merger has become complicated. Some political parties like the ANP and the PTI argue that jirgas, unless supervised by formal law, have no binding authority.
However, Governor Faisal Karim Kundi recently called for a “united tribal jirga” to address broader issues such as rehabilitation, compensation and infrastructure development in the merged districts, indicating that jirgas still hold symbolic value.
The collapse of peace jirgas shows that local elders alone cannot resolve a conflict deeply rooted in regional geopolitics, ideological extremism and cross-border dynamics.
“We have buried too many of our children. If jirgas fail, people will stop believing in peace,” says an elder from Tirah.
The writer is a freelance journalist and social worker.