Chorr Valley dispute: ‘Killers’ of sheep and goats asked to surrender

MANSEHRA: The district police officer of Kolai-Palas on Thursday asked the tribesmen involved in killing of sheep and goats belonging to Allai tribes in the disputed Chorr valley to surrender or else action would be taken against them.

“We have constituted many raiding teams led by the elite force to launch a crackdown against 150 tribesmen if they didn’t surrender as they had attacked and killed 530 sheep of the Allai tribes,” District Police Officer, Kolai-Palas, Salman Khan told reporters.

“We are in search of around 150 tribesmen of Kolai-Palas, who attacked shepherds in the disputed valley and killed or took away sheep belonging to the Ali tribes,” said the official. The DPO said that the former provincial minister, Maulana Asmatullah, was also arrested by the Mansehra police under 3-MPO for instigating Kolai-Palas tribesmen to take arms against Allai tribes to occupy the disputed valley last month.

“Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has through constituted a judicial committee to settle this issue once and for all but those who took arms and killed sheep might be taken to justice under the relevant sections of law,” he added.

The Kolai-Palas and Allai (Battagram) tribes have been claiming ownership of the Chorr valley for decades. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNA Prince Nawaz Khan told reporters that Swati tribes of Allai were the actual owners of the disputed Chorr valley as all previous commissions and Shariah had accepted their ownership of the area.