Orakzai jirga seeks end to target killings

KALAYA: The elders and youths in a Grand Amn Jirga on Monday urged the government and security agencies to take tangible steps to end the ongoing incidents of target-killing, prevailing unrest and lawlessness and restore a lasting peace in the Orakzai tribal district.

“The government and state have failed in the restoration of peace. Our youths are being target-killed every day, but there is no writ of government to arrest and punish the perpetrators,” said one of the elders said while addressing the Grand Amn Jirga held outside the district headquarters in Kalaya here.

Besides a large number of elders and youths, Deputy Commissioner Irfanuddin and District Police Officer Nazir Khan also attended the jirga and assured the elders that every possible step would be taken for the restoration of peace in the district.

Speaking on the occasion, the elders, including Malik Shakeel, Malik Fazal Muhammad, Malik Zaliman Shah, Haji Qasim Gul, youth leaders Najeeb Khan, Safiullah and others said that their only demand was to end unrest, lawlessness, target-killing and restore a lasting peace.

They said that the responsibility for ensuring peace rested with the state and its institutions. They lamented the increasing incidents of target-killing by “unknown” assailants.The elders said that two important leaders Chairman Inayatur Rahman and Razi Khan were target-killed within a week, but the perpetrators were still at large. They criticized the government for the failure to arrest the killers.

“We are tired of burying our dead. We cannot bear to carry more coffins. Our patience has run out,” an elder said, adding that before the merger of erstwhile Fata, tribal customs had ensured peace and such killings had not been heard in the past.

He said if someone was murdered, the identity of the perpetrator was known. The speakers urged the state to provide them protection and restore peace or else they would ask all the institutions, including the FC, to leave Orakzai.

The elders said that they would take security matters into their own hands by forming a committee to establish peace in the region. They also demanded that the martyrs’ package be announced for the tribal youths who were target-killed last week.