Muhammad Alam was just 13 when his uncle was killed in a tribal dispute in the Gulistan subdivision of Balochistan’s Killa Abdullah district. Three years later in 2006, when Alam was in 10th grade, his father was killed. That is when he quit his books and took up a gun.

Now, 28, Alam leaves home every morning with the purpose of a man going to work. But his purpose every day is vendetta; to find his father’s killer and avenge his death. Every night, he returns home in despair.

“[Tribal feuds] have destroyed us. Family elders have been killed, the youth have left [their] businesses and children have been compelled to leave school,” Alam says. “Everyone has a gun in his hands now. For us, life means to kill or to be killed. Is this life?”

Longstanding tribal disputes have destroyed life in an area in Balochistan’s Killa Abdullah district

Lands and business matters are the main reasons that lead to tribal disputes and violence. For instance, the conflict between the Segai and Abdur Rehmanzai tribes started in 2015 over a land dispute and the feud between the Shamshozais and Ghabizais sparked over a business issue in the late 1980s. Gun culture took root in Killa Abdullah after the violence brought on by these tribal enmities.

The situation exacerbated in 1990 — specifically in Gulistan, the tehsil headquarters of Killa Abdullah district. There was only one enmity between two tribes — Ghabizai and Hamidzai — which escalated with time and now 27 tribes are involved in disputes. There are hundreds and thousands of families in one tribe.

“The feuds have devastated the economy of the region,” says Haji Nasrullah, a member of the Anjuman-i-Tajiran. “The Gulistan Bazaar, which was a historical bazaar, has been completely demolished due to a conflict between two tribes. The conflict started on the land issue,” Nasrallah says.

“Our enmity occurred by accident, not deliberately, but now the [entire] area is disturbed,” Alam says. “The enmities ended life in our area and all tribes hold each other in disgust. We were neighbours. We are not happy killing each other but now it is a compulsion to avenge our dead.”

The bloody tribal clashes are the second biggest issue in Balochistan, after terrorism, and have taken uncountable lives.

The Balochistan Aman Jirga in Quetta, headed by tribal elders and religious clerics, has recently started a campaign in Killa Abdullah to resolve tribal disputes. (A jirga is a traditional form of mediation used across the province to resolve conflict in the light of Islamic laws and local traditions.) Formed four years ago, the jirga has solved 138 murder cases in different parts of the province, especially in Pakhtun-dominated districts.

“In Killa Abdullah district alone, 600 tribesmen have been killed due to 27 disputes,” says Lala Yousuf Khilji, the president of Balochistan Aman Jirga. There are no official figures for how many have been killed in fighting in all of Balochistan but the jirga estimates the number to be more than 2,000 across the province.

The jirga firstly plans to meet with all tribal elders in Killa Abdullah who are involved in disputes. Later, the jirga will visit all areas of Balochistan to end animosities among the tribes.

With a population of more than 757,000 — of which 75 per cent is rural — Killa Abdullah is one of 11 Pakhtun-dominated districts in the province. It is also the poorest district in the country, with dire health and literacy conditions.

The president of the jirga, Khilji, says he will gauge how the tribes he approaches react to mediation. “If they don’t [heed] my [advice] then I will form a jirga comprising women and send them to homes [to play the role of mediators],” he says. “We have widowed hundreds of our own women and orphaned thousands of our own children.”

Five weeks ago, members of the jirga came to the district. They say they were welcomed by all the tribes, especially those who have enmities and they shared their issues with the jirga. The people take interest in the jirga because it is an easy way to seek justice, requiring no payment and big issues are resolved within weeks.

Hundreds of families from conflict-hit areas have been displaced. They include not only those families who are directly involved in enmity but also those who felt the need to migrate to a safer place in order to avoid the brewing conflict and violence.

The economy of the district was dependent on agriculture and fruit farming. Apples, grapes, almonds, watermelons and melons are harvested in Killa Abdullah. As the feuds started, the agriculture floundered because, out of fear, some tribes couldn’t venture out to their orchards and (according to local sources) due to some disputes, hostile tribes hacked down the trees in one another’s fields.

When violence breaks out due to tribal clashes, locals are forced to wrap up their businesses and shift to other districts of Balochistan or to Sindh. Nasrullah estimates that 80 percent capital has been transferred out of Gulistan.

“Around 2,500 tea hotels in Sindh — mostly in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur — are run by people hailing from Killa Abdullah,” he claims.

In 2007, when ethnic violence escalated in Karachi, Killa Abdullah district suffered another tragedy. The hotels workers were frequently targeted and killed. “From 2007 to 2011, almost 800 tea hotels of Killa Abdullah people were shut down in Karachi,” says Khilji. “More than half of the owners were forced to move again to various cities of Punjab. Those who remained in the metropolis reopened [their hotels] again.”

It is not only an issue for the tribes involved in animosities, but the rest of the people in the area also suffer as the situation aggravates. In some cases, even native people stay away from such areas to avoid violence.

The protracted tribal disputes are considered one of the main reason behind the backwardness of Balochistan. In Killa Abdullah, the deadly conflicts have not only taken lives but also precluded scores of children from going to school since the schools are closed in the conflicted areas. In fear, teachers had also stopped performing their duties and students left the schools.

“The families that could afford education for their children in Quetta, sent their children there” says Hassan Achakzai, a 37-year-old resident of Gulistan. “But in the warlike situation it was not possible for children to keep going to schools here.”

A generation has been deprived of education and lost their future, he adds. “Our area suffered a lot. Now we request the groups involved in the strife to reach an agreement.”

In the past, Gulistan was known as the place of festivals and people of Gulistan were known as the most hospitable of tribes. The historical Gulistan Mela was a cultural festival that was regularly organised for three decades until 1988 near the Gulistan Bazaar. It would draw thousands of people from all over Balochistan and parts of Afghanistan for celebration. Visitors would stay with the local tribesmen who welcomed them into their homes and gave them food and lodging. But that has ended forever.

The gun culture has escalated and spread to adjacent villages. In such an atmosphere residents do not feel safe without guns as innocent people are frequent targets, many of whom are children and elders. This has not only increased gun violence and firearms-related deaths but also the crime rate.

“Our lives have been ruined. Here, the fighting continued for days,” Rozadin Kakar, a tribal elder, tells the jirga members who are visiting his home for mediation. “The people were suffering but no one came for mediating. Now is a great opportunity for us to eliminate conflicts and restore peace.”

The writer is a freelance investigative journalist

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 28th, 2018

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