What is the proposed agreement on peace and arms transfer in Kurram and why is it being delayed?
The situation in Kurram district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has been plagued by sectarian violence for two months, remains dire due to road closures and lack of essential goods, including medicines, after dozens of deaths. However, authorities are hopeful that the two sides will soon reach an agreement on the terms set by the peace jirga.
According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Advisor Barrister Saif, “The final decision and signature of the jirga regarding Kurram will be taken on Tuesday.”
Talking to reporters in Peshawar, he said that the provincial government’s first priority was the ceasefire, which has been implemented, and now the provincial authorities are giving time to the jirga to resolve the issues so that they can reach a unanimous and final conclusion.
He further said that the conditions that have been set will be for the establishment of long-lasting and sustainable peace so that such situations do not arise in the future.
He further said that the Parachinar Toll Road cannot be made safe without removing weapons and bunkers from the area, while the decisions of the cabinet and the apex committee in this regard will be implemented at all costs.
It may be recalled that so far more than 200 people have been killed in the sectarian riots in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but due to the unending tension, the connection roads to Parachinar, the capital of Kurram, are closed, due to which the area is also facing shortage of medicines, food and essential commodities.
Due to the closure of roads, medicines and other items are being delivered to the affected areas of Kurram by the federal and provincial governments through helicopters.
The religious political party Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) had called for sit-ins in various cities of the country on this issue, after which sit-ins are ongoing at several places in many cities of the country including Karachi, Islamabad and Quetta.
On the other hand, the Sunni Ulema Council Pakistan has demanded an indiscriminate operation in Kurram and said that if the area is not cleared of weapons and the criminals are not brought to justice, they will protest across the country.
The peace jirga held in Kohat on December 28 on the situation in Kurram ended without any result. According to a press release issued by the office of the Kohat Commissioner, in this matter, ‘one party is objecting to the surrender of weapons to the national leaders, while the other party has asked for two days’ time.’
According to a statement issued by the office of the Kohat Commissioner, ‘the jirga will be held again on December 31. For a lasting agreement, both sides must agree. If there is no (peace) agreement and the weapons are not collected as per the apex committee meeting, then it is not possible to open the road.’
It should be noted that the new wave of sectarian violence in Kurram district began in October this year when a series of major incidents of firing allegedly by rival tribes on passenger convoys departing from Sunni and Shia majority areas took place.
Following these attacks, sectarian violence broke out in several surrounding villages in which many people lost their lives.
What is in the proposed ‘renewed Murree Agreement’ for peace in Kurram?
The proposed draft for peace in Kurram, which the BBC has received, includes 14 points. The parties have confirmed the draft and said that further discussions are underway on it.
The proposed agreement states that the Murree Agreement 2008, including all previous regional and collective agreements, property documents, decisions and traditions, which are agreed upon by all the leaders of Kurram district, will remain in place.
The proposed agreement states that the government will take strict action against those who violate any kind of government road, while all the displaced families of Kurram district will be resettled in their respective areas, while no obstacles will be placed in their resettlement.
The agreement also proposes that there will be a ‘complete ban on the free display and use of weapons and no collection of funds for the purchase of weapons will be allowed’, while the parties will be obliged to deposit all heavy weapons with the district police within a month.
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Kurram’s Haji Aqilo, who saved the ‘Messiah family’ without caring for his life.Accordingly, ‘the government will ensure the recovery of weapons and the peace committee will take action against villages using heavy weapons.’
According to the proposed draft, no person or persons will give a religious color to the fighting between them and the parties will ensure the safety of those taken to shelter and the bodies will not be desecrated. ‘Action will be taken against those who hurt sentiments on social media.’
Accordingly, ‘all government employees, including teachers, will perform their duties in all areas of Kurram district without hindrance and fear. In this regard, the elders will ensure their safety through the Pashtun Wali Code.’
The peace agreement proposes that ‘if any untoward incident occurs in the area, peace committees in the relevant area will be immediately activated and the other party will not give any kind of response.’
According to this proposed agreement, if a dispute arises between two villages, there will be no ‘sect or caste-based fighting’.
Under this proposed agreement, the construction of all types of bunkers by the parties will be banned and a ceasefire will be permanent between the parties. Previous violations will also be determined according to the agreement.
Why the delay in reaching an agreement on the proposed peace agreement?
Senator Sajid Turi told to the reporters that a substantial amount of agreement has been reached on an agreement to establish lasting peace in Kurram. According to him, the points of this agreement were presented in the Jirga meeting on December 28.
Sajid Turi, while disagreeing with the official position on the weapons collection, said, “We did not place any condition during the Jirga that we will not deposit weapons with the national leaders.”
According to him, the Shiites have signed the draft presented by the government and according to him, this is the same draft that was finally approved in the Apex Committee meeting.
Dr. Qadir Orakzai, a political leader representing the Sunnis in this Jirga, has confirmed that the draft currently under discussion had been under discussion for the past one year and opinions were also taken from the parties.
According to him, the current point of contention on the agreement is that instead of giving the option to surrender the weapons, the government should seize these weapons itself so that an agreement that cannot be implemented in the future is not signed like in the past.
He claimed that so far a total of 26 agreements have been signed to establish peace in Kurram, but due to their non-implementation, the conflict resurfaces.
He claimed that this time the parties have ‘agreed to renew the Marri Agreement in October 2008 in consultation with the army.’
In response to a question, he said, ‘We have sought time in the jirga for this reason so that we can go back to Kurram and take our tribes into confidence and with their consultation we can reach a meaningful conclusion so that the peace of the area is not disturbed in the future.’
On the question regarding weapons, Senator Sajid Turi, while avoiding giving details, told to the reporters only that ‘Our area is not safe. There is chaos here. We also want to become a safe zone like Islamabad.’
However, he claimed that the official draft regarding the weapons deposit had written ‘we have agreed to it.’
On the other hand, according to Dr. Qadir, there are currently heavy weapons in Kurram and he fears that ‘no one will voluntarily deposit the weapons, but the state itself will have to come forward and take possession of these weapons and destroy them.’
In his opinion, if this matter is left to the people, then the restoration of the state’s writ will remain a dream.
Concerns of the parties
Syed Akhtar Ali Shah, who was the Inspector General of Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has an eye on the issue. He told that the Shia tribes of Kurram fear that if they surrender their weapons, they could be targeted by organizations like TTP and ISIS.
According to him, ‘The Shias also realize that they are in the minority and if such a situation arises tomorrow, they will have nothing to defend themselves.’
According to Akhtar Ali Shah, the situation in Afghanistan has also had a profound impact on the situation in Kurram and now this century-old issue has become a national and international issue from a local one.
According to him, in the past, the Shia people of Kurram used to stop those people and organizations who went to Afghanistan to fight jihad because they were afraid that it would have an impact on the border area.
According to Akhtar Ali Shah, this concern proved to be right and 40 years of turmoil within Afghanistan have changed the population ratio of Kurram.
On the other hand, Dr. Qadir disagrees with this point of view.
He said that Shiites are not in the minority in Kurram, nor has any extremist organization targeted any community in Kurram yet. He said that the fight of these organizations is against the system and the state.
According to him, under the new agreement, it will also be ensured that the fight between two villages will not be given the color of a sectarian conflict, but where there is chaos, those areas will have to face punishments and fines.
Syed Akhtar Ali Shah said that while the state will have to compensate the victims of Kurram and try to create a consensus on this issue, it will have to restore its writ by force.
On the other hand, in the jirga meeting, a group also objected that the government had assured that they would transfer some ‘biased’ administrative officials from Kurram to other areas, but this promise has not been implemented yet.
The meeting also said that there is a need to discourage the hatred being spread through social media, which the parties have agreed on.
According to the committee members, in the meeting of the Apex Committee, which was chaired by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur along with Corps Commander Peshawar Omar Ahmed Bukhari, it was decided that weapons will be taken from the parties in Kurram and bunkers will be dismantled.
According to Dr. Qadir, he agrees with the decision of the Apex Committee. He said that now the state will have to complete this process through intelligence so that if it is hidden in houses, fields or anywhere, it can be found.
The situation in Kurram district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has been plagued by sectarian violence for two months, remains dire due to road closures and lack of essential goods, including medicines, after dozens of deaths. However, authorities are hopeful that the two sides will soon reach an agreement on the terms set by the peace jirga.
