THE clock is ticking! The 72-hour deadline given by the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, to combatants belonging to Sunni and Shia sects in the Kurram tribal agency to stop fighting ends at 2pm on Monday.

At stake are not only the lives of hundreds of thousands of people caught in this fratricidal war but also the fast-eroding credibility of the government.

The interior czar’s ultimatum has gone unheeded. Fighting continues, hamlets are being overrun and blood spilled. Indications are that no force is being sent and no action planned.The cavalier statement by the adviser in the presence of Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Friday had rekindled hope of the state coming to the help of the region’s hapless people.

But with the deadline passing and continuing inaction by the state apparatus, there is little hope left for the people looking for some divine intervention to end the bloodshed raging since November last year.

Sadly, Mr Malik’s warning and the government’s failure to act on it has once again brought to the fore the lack of coordination and consultation among various state organs and absence of a strategic vision.

It’s been nearly ten months now since the sectarian violence erupted in Kurram, in fact the second round of clashes if one were to include the bloodbath that claimed nearly 300 lives in April last year. The casualty figure on both sides so far is over 1,000.

Thousands of people have been displaced and their property ransacked, looted and torched. The road between Thall and Parachinar has remained closed for about a year and all supplies, including food and medicines, to the regional headquarters of Parachinar and beyond have dried up.

Historically, there have been sectarian flare-ups in Kurram every three to five years but violence would die down quickly because of a combination of political and administrative measures and use of force.

The irony is that while elders from both the sects are weary and tired of the violence and want an end to the bloodshed, there is little that they can do.

The Sunni elders have lost their authority to a band of displaced people of their sect from Parachinar and Taliban militants, mostly from other tribal regions, while the Shia elders, although still having some say, are fast losing influence to a stridently violent militant faction called the Mahdi Militia.

Had the government taken timely action to resolve contentious issues between the two sides, it is believed, the spiralling violence in Kurram might have been brought under control.

Not surprisingly though, it dragged its feet and failed to meet some of the key demands of both sides, including the re-settlement of people displaced from Parachinar, payment of compensation to them for the losses they had suffered and vacation of Shorko by the rival sect.

Similarly, and perhaps simultaneously, it could also have taken steps to settle the Pewar water dispute, re-open the Thall-Parachinar road and rehabilitate the people displaced from Sadda in 1997.

All it required, perhaps, was money and a little use of force to remove the belligerent elements from both sides. This didn’t happen, largely because of lack of coordination and consultation among the various state agencies.

The government, instead of meeting its own responsibilities to protect its people, passed the buck to a peace jirga comprising elders from the two sides.

A former political agent, who had called the peace jirga to help resolve the issue, locked all its members in the Haripur central prison.

Instead of fixing the problem, the government dispatched a new political agent in July with promises of full backing of men and material. The jirga members were released immediately and an agreement reached to resume peace talks and reopen the road.

A convoy of 14 trucks laden with foodstuff was moved. But it was a classic example of too little, too late. The convoy was ambushed, the drivers were killed and trucks looted and burnt. No action was taken for the security lapse and no responsibility fixed, despite a written request by the incumbent political agent.

As things stand, the paramilitary force deployed in the region has proved to be of little use and help. Its only recourse is the use of artillery.

There have been examples of exceptional bravery by men of the Frontier Corps elsewhere, but sadly they have little to show in Kurram where, according to officials, there have been at least five instances of dereliction of duty and request for inquiry.

In one instance, a contingent of the paramilitary force which escorted the political agent of Kurram who was on his way to Peshawar to attend a meeting recently disappeared on seeing a Taliban patrol.

Lack of internal accountability and effective control, according to knowledgeable sources, has affected the morale of the force in the region and emboldened the militants on both sides.

Officials acknowledge that inaction by security forces may not only lead to the emergence of a Taliban-led parallel administration in the Sunni-dominated Lower Kurram but it may also embolden the Shia militant factions -- the Mahdi and Hezbollah militias -- to replicate the same in Upper Kurram.

The latest reprisal attacks on 20 hamlets by Shia militants and incidents of looting and arson in response to the killing of two members of their community in Bilyamin in Lower Kurram have added a new and dangerous dimension to the conflict.

This indeed is a dangerous situation and may not only imperil the lives of ordinary people and pose a serious threat to the administration -- seen by both sides as rivals -- but it will also have far-reaching consequences for the country.

Left to fend off for themselves and cut off from Pakistan, the local people area increasingly looking towards the US-backed Afghanistan which has not only provided them with an alternative route to Peshawar but has also helped them with fuel and essential food supplies. And as one analyst said, it wouldn’t take long before the local population started dealing in Afghan currency and US dollars. It doesn’t require too much of an imagination to know what it entails for Pakistan.

Sadly, SOS calls both from the administration in the regional headquarters and hapless people trapped in the unending violence have largely fallen on deaf ears.

While there is consensus on the need for immediate action, the government has not moved beyond its official rhetoric from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. His promise to convene a convention of religious leaders from both sides at a meeting in Peshawar last month and repeated by his adviser on interior this past week, though it may not achieve much, has yet to materialise, demonstrating a complete lack of urgency at the top.

The situation is gloomy and depressing. With no action in sight and a few hours to go before the deadline expires, the people there may lose all faith in state authority.