Orakzai jirga warns of protest if peace not restored

KALAYA: A grand jirga of elders, local political leaders and social figures on Monday threatened that they would launch a protest movement in Peshawar and Islamabad if the district administration and law enforcing agencies failed to stop terror incidents and provide protection to the people in Orakzai tribal district.

Speaking at the All Parties Grand Jirga in Kalaya, the headquarters of Orakzai tribal district, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists Malik Mumtaz Orakzai, Bahadur Khan Orakzai, Awami National Party activist Malik Misal Khan Orakzai, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam activists Mian Hussain Jalali, Malik Shahpor, Jamaat-e-Islami activists Mufti Tahir Najibur Rahman, Abdur Rahman and others said that persistent terror incidents in Orakzai were beyond understanding as the district did not share its borders with any neighboring country.

A large number of people, including elders, political parties’ workers and youth attended the jirga.The participants later staged a rally, closed the main gate of the district headquarters compound for some time and chanted slogans against the government and district administration for failure to maintain peace.

The speakers said that terror incidents, kidnapping, and killings of innocent people had become order of the day in the district but the district administration and law enforcing agencies have become silent spectators.

They said that first two innocent labourers were killed, an engineer was kidnapped and later the PTI local leader Malik Asif Khan was gunned down in Bulandkhel but the officials of relevant departments responsible for maintaining law and order have yet to arrest any of the accused.

The speakers said that these incidents had sent a shock wave among the local residents as, according to them, law and order situation were being created once again in the district.

“We have sacrificed our lives and properties and were displaced when militancy was on peak in the erstwhile Fata during the last one decade but cannot afford displacement now,” the elders said, adding that it was a question mark on the efficiency of law enforcers that how terrorists sneaked into Orakzai despite the fact it shared no border with any neighbouring country.

They said that their youth cannot go to their areas for fear of life, urging the government to arrest the kidnappers and killers forthwith.The local elders and political leaders threatened to launch a protest movement and stage sit-ins outside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s House and Peshawar Press Club and Islamabad for an indefinite period if there was no improvement in the situation.