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KP govt declares action against ‘miscreants’ in Kurram unavoidable

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PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Sunday noted that action against “few miscreants” in the affected areas of violence-stricken Kurram District was now “unavoidable”.

After an attack on a convoy in Lower Kurram’s Bagan area killed over 40 people in November last year, ensuing clashes stemming from decades-old land disputes have claimed at least 130 more lives.

The volatile security situation led to the closure of a main road for weeks, resulting in a shortage of essential goods and medicines in Upper Kurram’s Parachinar. While a ceasefire deal was signed between warring tribes on January 1, attacks on a government convoy and an aid convoy this month put peace in peril.

In response, authorities have planned to launch a limited “counter-terrorism operation” in the Lower Kurram tehsil, with camps for temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) ordered to be set up as over 1,000 families would be displaced.

Today’s meeting, held by government and security officials to review the security situation in Kurram, decided to take “indiscriminate action against miscreants”.

“Action against a few miscreants in the affected areas has become unavoidable,” said a statement issued by KP government spokesperson Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif.

The meeting was attended by Saif, KP Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, and KP police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan, among other officials.

During the meeting, it was also decided that the peace agreement would be implemented “as per the law and Pashtun traditions”.

While the statement did not use the term “military operation”, it said: “Security forces would be present to support the police and the civil administration in action against the miscreants.

“The government apprehends that a few miscreants have infiltrated peaceful people,” it added, noting that those elements had “attempted to sabotage the peace deal”.

In an apparent reference to the establishment of TDP camps, the statement said action would be taken after “separating peaceful people from miscreants to save them from loss”.

It asserted that the “best alternate arrangements” had been made to relocate those who would be displaced in the affected areas. According to an earlier government order, over 1,000 families would be relocated from various Lower Kurram areas to four sites in Thall.

The government also sought help from “both parties to help the law enforcement agencies in identifying miscreants present among them”. Reaffirming that the state stood with the peaceful elements, the government vowed that the “oppressors” would be brought to justice.

The statement stressed that the KP government had been trying to restore peace in Kurram for the past three months, adding that the ceasefire deal was agreed upon as per Pashtun traditions.

It recalled the attacks on convoys this month, noting that “miscreants were targeting security forces personnel and aid convoys”.

“It is requested that the public fully cooperate with the security forces in the affected areas. The government would soon eliminate the miscreants and restore peace in the affected areas,” the statement said.