Parachinar

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/09/AR2011020901396.html

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Officials: NW Pakistan rival tribes to end fight

The Washington Post

Officials: NW Pakistan rival tribes to end fight

The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 9, 2011;

PARACHINAR, Pakistan -- A tribal elder and a government official say Sunni and Shiite communities in a region close to the Afghan border have agreed to end their four-year long conflict.

Tribal council leader Waris Khan Afridi said Wednesday the main road leading to Kurram from Peshawar was now open again and both Shiites and Sunnis were using it. Previously, the road was too dangerous to use.

He says "God willing" there would be no more fighting.

Hundreds have died in the fighting, which effectively isolated the region from the rest of Pakistan because the main road was so dangerous.

He says the two sects had agreed to stop fighting, but gave no details on the terms.

On Tuesday, a convoy of vehicles from both communities traveled the road to publicize the agreement.

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iRONIC as the situation may be, the TTP has welcomed a peace agreement

IRONIC as the situation may be, the TTP has welcomed a peace agreement between the Shia and Sunni factions of Kurram Agency and pledged to abide by it.

This was communicated by the group's Kurram amir Fazal Saeed — wanted by the Government of Pakistan with a Rs5m bounty on his head — at a news conference. The militant leader added that those who violated the accord would be "punished in accordance with the Sharia" and assured the Shia community that it could use the Thall-Parachinar road without fear. The route has become a virtual death trap due to a Taliban blockade. Even convoys accompanied by security forces have been ambushed. Though the prospects for peace should be welcomed, there are reasons to be circumspect. Firstly, it is a clear sign that the state has lost its writ in an area when a wanted man guarantees a peace agreement. Secondly, the Taliban are the major reason for the area's destabilisation. Can they be trusted to abide by the agreement? There have been peace deals in the past which have been most notable for the number of times they have been violated. There are also reports that the deal has the blessings of the Sirajuddin Haqqani network (believed to have established itself in Kurram) while the security establishment has accepted this role. The area — bordering Afghanistan — is of immense strategic importance and observers say the sectarian conflict was affecting the Haqqani network's anti-Isaf activities across the border. There is a perception that although local militants may honour the agreement, groups from Hangu or Kohat may try and sabotage it.

Thousands have been killed, injured and displaced while scores of villages have been torched since violence began in 2007 with the Taliban's arrival. However, the local administration and security forces are equally responsible for their abject failure in quelling the violence. For there to be genuine peace in Kurram the state — and not militants — must set the agenda. If peace is established, the government should initiate an investigation to take account of the human and material losses as a result of the violence, and the guilty must be brought to book.

SOURCE: http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/09/kurram-agreement.html

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http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Security/Pakistan-Thousands-of-Sunni-families-expected-to-return-to-northwest-after-peace-accord_311653051311.html

Thousands of Sunni families expected to return to northwest after peace accord

Pakistan: Thousands of Sunni families expected to return to northwest after peace accord

(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - At least 3,000 Sunni families who fled sectarian violence are likely to return to Pakistan's restive northwestern Kurram tribal region following a recent peace accord between Shia and Sunni tribal elders, according to Pakistani security sources. The peace accord was also recognised by the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan Taliban chief in Kurram, Fazl Saeed told journalists by phone on Monday from an undisclosed location that militants would severely punish anyone who flouted the peace deal, which was signed on 3 February, ending years of bloodshed.

Saeed urged Shias to use main transport arteries including the Thall-Parachinar road.

The peace accord brought to an end three years of sectarian killings in Kurram, which borders Afghanistan. Taliban-backed Sunni militias and other Taliban-linked groups terrorised the Shia population in Kurram from 2007 and at least 5,000 Shias took refuge in Afghanistan.

Sunni militias barred all the main roads in the area for at least two years, forcing Shias living in Kurram's main town of Parachinar to travel through the easterm Afghan province of Nangarhar to reach the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Later, Shia militias, allegedly backed by the Iran and the Afghan government, fought back against the pro-Taliban Sunni militias and forced at least 3,000 Sunni families to flee to other Pakistani cities.

Headed by Malik Waris Khan Afridi, the former federal minister from Khyber Agency, the 220-member tribal jirga took two years to arrange a negotiated peace deal.

Afridi said the safe and secure return of the tribesmen will be ensured by the government and Sunni and Shia tribesmen have pledged to uphold the deal.

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