Blood feuds continue to plague KP

PESHAWAR: Blood feuds continue to claim lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, prompting calls for concrete measures to help settle the enmities to end the killings of people.

The government has started taking steps to settle blood feuds in the province in the aftermath of the recent killings in Dir. Land disputes are said to be causing most of the feuds. So, the government should correct the land record and take action against the relevant officials involved in any wrongdoing or negligence.

The district administration, the police and the dispute resolution councils (DRCs) must develop a mechanism to settle enmities claiming lives and disturbing law and order. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have been tasked with documenting the blood feuds and engaging the DRCs to settle the rivalries. The regional and district police officers were directed recently to identify and document the blood feuds in their respective areas.

Some RPOs and DPOs have compiled lists of enmities. The officers were directed to prevent the rival groups from branding weapons and harassing people. According to the lists compiled by the police stations, there are hundreds of blood feuds across the province that daily claim lives from both sides. Scores of passersby have also been killed after being caught in the crossfire.

Nine people were killed and many injured when rivals clashed in Lower Dir on September 16. On Monday, nine people were killed and six injured in a firing incident at a jirga in Upper Dir. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the two incidents.

On Tuesday at a meeting on law and order, he directed the police, district administration and the revenue officials to take steps to help settle all such feuds. Only a few days ago, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly members expressed concern over the killings of people due to enmities. They had asked the government, departments and the society to play their role in bringing an end to the menace.

Many have asked for strict laws as well as punishments by the courts for display of arms, spreading terror in public and creating law and order so no one could dare indulge in such crimes.

A number of groups involved in feuds are promoting gun culture and terrorise the common people by brandishing arms. There are reports that some of these groups, which are heavily armed, are involved in crimes, supporting and facilitating criminals, land-grabbing and harassing innocent people by intentionally brandishing weapons in public.

The decades-old blood feuds in the rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that claim hundreds of lives every year need an end. There have been a number of blood-feuds in Peshawar and other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that started years ago over petty issues and are still continuing.

Some of the blood-feuds have resulted in the death of almost all the male members in a family, leaving only women and children with nobody to feed them. The DRCs in Peshawar and the rest of the KP could do a significant job in resolving disputes in a speedy manner. DRCs and jirgas in all the districts need to be made proactive so they intervene and settle issues before they could claim lives.

A joint desk of police and revenue department at district or sub-division level with appointing effective officers can also help settle many enmities due to land disputes. Besides, the mushroom growth of property dealers need to be regulated as many of these dealers in suburban and rural areas are adding to the feuds.