Parachinar troubles claimed 1,100 lives

The members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights have been informed during an in-camera briefing by high-ranking officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the intelligence agencies that about 1,100 people have been killed and hundreds of houses burnt in Parachinar in the past five years and that the operation against “non-local militants” is under way, according to sources.

During the briefing on the situation in the violence-hit Parachinar area of Kurram Agency held at the Parliament House here on Monday, the members were told that the Thall-Parachinar Road linking Kurram Agency with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been opened on Oct 30.

The committee headed by Riaz Fatyana of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) had called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Peshawar Corps Commander Gen Khalid Rabbani, sector commander of the Inter-Services Intelligence, federal defence secretary and officials of the federal and provincial departments to brief the members on the alleged human rights violations taking place in the Parachinar area due to the closure of various roads by militants. The sources said the corps commander did not attend the meeting.

The committee members were also informed about the measures adopted by the security agencies after setting up their posts in the area. The members, however, recommended setting up of more checkposts in the area to prevent infiltration of outsiders, mostly Taliban militants.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Fatyana said that after reviewing the situation, the committee had called for “removing and ejecting” the outsiders and militants from the area and ensuring the availability of food items and medicines there.

He said the committee had recommended that educational and health programmes should be launched in the area with the involvement of the elected representatives. He said the members advocated improvement in the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and that it should be implemented in letter and spirit.

Mr Fatyana said the committee had recommended to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, Ministry of Information Technology and Pakistan Baitul Maal to facilitate opening of more radio and TV channels in the area through which awareness campaigns should be launched. The committee had also recommended that more cultural and sports events should be organised for the youth of the area.

The committee, he said, wanted the government to allocate more funds for strengthening of security arrangements in the area besides payment of compensation to the heirs of those killed in the violence.

The meeting was also attended by MNAs from Fata — Sajid Hussain Turi and Munir Khan Orakzai — and according to Mr Fatyana, both of them acknowledged an improvement in the situation and expressed their satisfaction over the measures so far taken by the authorities to maintain peace.

Though the committee had taken up the issue of growing sectarianism and militancy in Parachinar in its previous meetings too, it received a formal briefing on the issue from higher civil and military leadership for the first time.

The issue of the forced closure of Thall-Parachinar road was raised by MNA Sajid Turi in the National Assembly in April, when speaking on a point of order he demanded of the government to take stern action against the militant groups who were kidnapping passengers by attacking the vehicles on the road, which remained blocked for most of the time since March because of attacks and killings of locals in violation of a truce reached in early February during a jirga.

The federal government and the jirga had announced on Feb 5 the reopening of all roads in Kurram Agency after a gap of almost four years.

Because of its strategic location, Kurram Agency has been of critical importance to the militants. It connects the tribal areas of Pakistan to Afghanistan through lower, central and upper Kurram, providing the militants an easy access to and from Afghanistan.