KOHAT, Jan 18: The district coordination officer of Hangu has announced that all government departments in the district will be reopened on Monday. The jirga, convened for restoring peace in Hangu, also decided on Sunday to reopen Kohat-Hangu highway for traffic.

The jirga, headed by District Coordination Officer Mujeebur Rehman, also started discussions to finalise terms and conditions for lasting peace in the region.

District Nazim Khan Afzal, also a member of jirga, told Dawn on Sunday that government writ and unbiased decisions were the only ways to solve the problem of sectarian tension, which claimed thousands of lives in the region over the past few years.

Keeping in view the involvement of foreign hands and some local actors in the sectarian clashes a permanent committee headed by the sessions judge should be constituted to award punishments to the culprits identified by the eyewitnesses and the jirga, he added.

He alleged that jirga members were not serious in efforts for peace. Their main aim was to collect the fee and linger on the jirga for vested interest, he added.

He explained that he had told jirga members in the first meeting on Thursday last that if they could not take bold decisions and call spade a spade then they should not waste the time of the government and people. He said that jirga was consisting of the same members who could not broker permanent peace after 2006 riots when 600 shops were burnt by the rival groups.

He recalled that when the government released compensation, some of the officials and jirga members made huge payments to their blue-eyed, who had not suffered losses and ignored the real affected persons.

The business community of Hangu which had been suffering billions of property losses since 1998 showed some hesitance in opening their shops despite administration increased the timings of relaxation in curfew on Saturday.

Authorities relaxed curfew from 11am to 4pm but it helped very little in removing the fear and encouraging the people to come out of their houses on Saturday.

The army and police were still patrolling the city and had sealed the district from all sides. Militants moved further back into the western parts of Hangu up to Thall tehsil where they had enforced Sharia.

The situation showed some signs of normalcy in the district after rival groups moved back into their own territories. More than 50 people were killed, 70 were injured, ten houses were burnt and several shops and markets were looted by rival groups during the five-day clashes.

The government had not yet entered some parts of Hangu city where severe damage was caused during the clashes and the elders were not allowing anybody to visit and assess the losses.

The city had become haunted followed by repeated riots and sectarian clashes since 1998 where a suicide attack during Muharram claimed more than 46 lives.

The year 2006 saw the worst kind of riots, in which 600 shops were burnt, many banks were looted and government property was destroyed by the rival groups.

The jirga members suggested that solution to the problem was to restrict both the sects to observe religious occasions in their respective areas otherwise clashes would continue in the area.