LARKANA, Jan 6: A jirga (tribal court) held in Jungal Khakhrani village, some 15 kilometres from here, settled a 10-year-old land dispute between two rival groups of Khakhrani clan on Sunday.

Eleven people have lost their lives and another nine sustained injuries so far in a series of tit-for-tat attacks involving the two groups.

The jirga headed by former federal minister Ghous Bakhsh Mahar, Sardar Himmat Khan Kamario and some other elders heard arguments and issued a decree imposing heavy fines on both the sides.

Mian Khan Khakhrani and Zahoor Khan Khakhrani represented their respective sides.

The jirga found Zahoor Khan Khakhrani side guilty of killing seven persons and injuring as many others. It was ordered to pay a fine of Rs4.65 million to the other side. The Mian Khan Khakhrani side was found guilty of killing four persons and injuring two others. It was ordered to pay a fine of Rs2.5 million to the rival side.

According to sources, a fine of Rs600,000 for each murder was fixed in the case. The fine money for injuring a person was fixed at Rs50,000 but for seriously injuring person, it was fixed at Rs150,000.

Accepting the decree, both the sides buried the hatchet after the jirga declared that any of them found violating the decree would be made to pay a fine of Rs5 million.

The rivals were told to pay the first instalment of the fine money in the first week of February and remaining amount in two equal instalments later. They were asked to withdraw the cases registered against each other in the dispute and also vacate the encroached lands.