ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: A peace jirga of tribesmen constituted a 15-member reconciliation committee on Saturday to hammer out modalities for ending the ongoing sectarian violence in Kurram Agency. Hundreds of people have been killed in the year-long sectarian strife.

Facilitated by Kurram Azam Khan, political agent of Parachinar, the 100-member jirga comprising 50 members each from Turi and Bangash tribes, including parliamentarians from the two sides, was held at a local hotel here under tight security. Member parliament Munir Khan Orakzai, Sujid Hussian Turi, Senator Engineer Rasheed Khan and other notables of the area attended the meeting.

All roads leading to the hotel were barricaded by heavy blocks. A heavy contingent of police was deployed to guard the area and only jirga participants were allowed to enter the hotel.

“Today’s meeting was just to identify terms of reference to continue talks between the warring tribes on Sunday,” Nasir Ali Bangash, a participant of the meeting, told Dawn. He said that reconciliation committees comprising 15 members each from Turi and Bangash tribes had been formed because it was difficult to reach a consensus in the presence of such a large number of people.

Elders from Hangu and Orakzai tribes will also attend the Sunday meeting.

“Clashes have made us stranded and we have to take a long route via Afghanistan to reach Peshawar or back home because of closure of the Tal-Parachinar road,” said Haji Ghulab Khan, another participant of the meeting.

Almost all participants of the meeting were optimistic that the jirga would help establish a permanent peace in the area and set an example for other adjourning agencies to follow.

In June, residents of Kurram Agency had staged a protest demonstration in front of the Parliament House seeking government’s intervention to bring normalcy to the violence-hit area. The protesters had also submitted a memorandum to the local UN office, urging it to take notice of the human rights violation in Fata, particularly in Kurram Agency.

On September 18, armed clashes between Turi and Bangash tribes in the Pewar Tangi area of Upper Kurram and Mengak and Aroli areas of Lower Kurram had left 14 people dead and several others injured.

The same jirga had earlier agreed to stop the sectarian violence and vowed to take on those spreading the sectarian hatred in the agency.

SECURITY MEETING: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik asked security agencies to exercise maximum vigilance and remain in a “proactive mode” to avert any untoward incident.