Jirga formed in Swabi to resolve disputes

SWABI: The Swabi Loya Jirga was established to resolve disputes and help maintain peace in the district.

The residents said the jirga was set up after the alleged failure of the law-enforcement agencies to protect the life and property of the people and maintain peace in the district.

They said the Swabi Loya Jirga had been established with the view to eradicate social evils. About 800 elders, members of 56 union councils, leading politicians, lawyers, mayors of four tehsils and jirga members from Charsadda and Mardan districts attended the gathering at Yar Hussain.

The efforts to establish the jirga commenced six months back when the incidents of killings increased in the district.

“This has happened for the first time that elders from all over the district, the Ulema, politicians, social workers, writers, intellectuals, poets and media representatives have gathered on a single platform and worked out a joint strategy to run the jirga,” said Saleem Khan Advocate, former provincial general secretary of Awami National Party.

The gathering decided that the jirga would be run by over 50-member supreme council that would later constitute an executive committee to help the jirga in resolving disputes and fighting other social evils such as the menace of drugs. “I assure you that the jirga would succeed if the intention of its members is above personal interest,” said an elder Khair Mohammad.