Four more killed in Kurram: Feverish efforts to save peace deal

PESHAWAR, March 27: As a rocket attack on a truck killed four more persons in the Kurram Agency on Sunday, tribal interlocutors intensified their efforts to secure release of 35 kidnapped persons and salvage a peace deal in the volatile agency. Former federal minister Malik Waris Khan Afridi, head of the jirga, said that their top priority was the safe and early recovery of the 35 people who were kidnapped from Baggan town when armed men attacked four vehicles on the main road on Friday. Three people were killed and two others injured in the attack. The attackers had released five women and six children, taking away 35 passengers with them. On Sunday, unidentified persons fired rockets at a moving pick-up truck in Shaheedan Dand area in lower Kurram near Afghan border and killed four passengers. Another passenger received injuries in the rocket attack. The vehicle was coming from Afghanistan. Most of the Afghans come to Kurram for treatment and business activities. "The jirga is in contact with the guarantors of the peace deal including Taliban in North Waziristan in Kurram agencies, requesting them to play their role in recovery of the hostages," Mr Afridi told Dawn . He said that third party might be involved in the attack and kidnapping of passengers. He said that the incident had also worried Fazl Saeed, head of banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Kurram. Members of the peace jirga met at the residence of MNA Munir Orakzai in Peshawar on Saturday night and discussed the emerging situation in the area. It was decided that violators of the agreement would pay Rs20 million as guarantee to the jirga. The government was asked to take action in Baggan area under the territorial responsibility clause of Frontier Crimes Regulation. Mr Afridi said that they had requested Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar to visit Parachinar immediately and give firm assurance to the aggrieved party. The elders of Turi and Bangash tribes had said on Saturday that they would boycott government functions and would not get national identity cards and passports as a mark of protest. "The jirga has appealed all tribes to exercise maximum restraint and do not provide opportunity to miscreants to exploit the situation," he said, adding that governor should persuade elders to end their boycott and cooperate with the jirga and political administration. The jirga is likely to meet again in Peshawar within the next two days to discuss the situation. The jirga head said that Barrister Kausar should also start distribution of compensation money among the affected families. Before the implementation of the peace deal in February last, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced Rs1 billion compensation package for the families, who had lost their relatives and properties during the three-year conflict, which according to locals, had claimed more than 3,000 lives.