CM Mahmood Khan urged to resolve Bajaur, Mohmand boundary dispute

KHAR/GHALLANAI: The elected representatives, Ulema and elders from Bajaur and Mohmand districts on Tuesday asked Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to intervene and resolve the boundary dispute between the people of two tribal districts through negotiation or else miscreants could sabotage the situation by spiking violence and bloodshed in the area.

Local sources and eyewitnesses said that thousands of people belonging to Bajaur and Mohmand districts had gathered at Drabano area and had been continuing their protest sit-ins on Bajaur-Peshawar road for the third consecutive day over a dispute on the boundary between the two districts. They said that there were also chances of spreading of the coronavirus pandemic as thousands of people including elders and youth had gathered for the protest despite imposition of sections 144 and 188 in the area. Sources said that the lawmakers, Ulema and elders from both the districts later met the officials of security forces but it could not yield any positive results and the people from both sides continued their protest sit-ins along the Bajaur and Mohmand boundary.

Addressing the protest sit-ins, members of the national and provincial assemblies from Bajaur and Mohmand districts including Guldad Khan Gul Zafar Khan, Sajid Khan Mohmand, Malik Anwar Zeb Khan, Nisar Mohmand, Malik Abbas Rahman, ex-senator Abdur Rashid Khan, Qari Abdul Majeed of Jamaat-e-Islami, Aurangzeb Inqilabi of Pakistan People’s Party and others said that some elements were out to create violence and bloodshed between the people of two neighbouring districts, which would not be allowed to happen at any cost. They said that it was not the right time to take up such issues through protest sit-ins or blockade of roads as the coronavirus epidemic had already posed a potential threat to the lives of people.

“This is a matter of grave concern for all of us that local administrations of the two tribal districts are oblivious to the volatile situation in the area and do not bother to take any step for solution to the issue through peaceful means, one of the speakers complained, adding that provincial government should come forward to resolve the issue and save the area from violence and bloodshed.