KARACHI: As many as 104 people have been killed and 84 others injured in what police say are tribal feuds triggered by several issues related to waterways, land, honour killing, cattle theft and matrimonial affairs mainly in upper Sindh, it emerged on Tuesday.

Most of the time minor disputes or petty issues culminated in bloody disputes as one such feud, that had claimed 60 lives, was said to be the outcome of cattle theft while another feud was stated to be the result of a scuffle among village boys during a cricket match.

This has been revealed in a recent police study about tribal feuds in the Larkana and Sukkur regions.

It has adverse consequences for education, health, culture and economy of five districts — Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Khairpur and Ghotki.

Besides, the study says such feuds have also become “nurseries” for creating criminals as hundreds of people are being nominated in the murders with “consultation of tribal chiefs” though they were not present at the crime scene or involved directly. They become absconders or proclaimed offenders and indulge themselves in crimes to sustain their livelihood. Resultantly highways remain disturbed where people do not travel at night besides there being a danger to important installations.

‘Feuds are serving as an industry for production of criminals of all hues’

Attempts to settle the disputes through jirgas have been ineffective.

The role of influential personalities and tribal chiefs with strong political connections has also dampened hopes for a resolution of the disputes.

The police research says the prospects of a solution may increase if these ‘influentials’ are persuaded “to either play their role for the resolution of the feud or withdraw their support for respective tribes.”

Causes

The study reveals that the Teghani and Bijarani feud in Shikarpur started on Oct 8, 2012 when armed persons of the Teghani community attacked persons belonging to the Bijarani community in the katcha area (forest or riverine) of Garhi Tego and rustled 80 buffaloes.

Bijarani armed persons retaliated and killed Nadir Teghani, who also had a criminal record, according to the study.

“Both tribes remained entangled in a bloody clash for six years, which resulted in the loss of lives of 60 individuals and many more were injured.”

In January 2019, a jirga was held in Shikarpur that fixed Rs1 million ‘compensation’ for each murder. However, the matter

of fixing and paying the fine money for injured people was left undecided, which resulted in resurfacing of the dispute.

The Qambrani and Marfani feud in Shikarpur started in 2005, when the people belonging to the Qambrani tribe murdered Totoo Marfani over a land dispute.

A jirga was held in 2016, which settled it, but it resurfaced in 2018 after the murder of a nephew of Qambrani tribe chief Dewal Qambrani.

This feud was “at its peak, however, the police have controlled the situation by increasing [their] presence in the areas.”

The Odhas and Kharos feud in the Garhi Yasin and Karan areas of Shikarpur erupted in 2010 over a piece of land, which has claimed 20 lives.

At present, the “situation is quite under control, as people of the Kharos tribe have shifted to some other places”.

The Odhas and Jakhranis feud in Jacobabad started in 2018 when boys of both tribes scuffled during a cricket match, prompting the police to set up pickets and deploy an armoured personnel carrier to stop escalation while 20 meetings of the tribal chiefs have been held with the authorities for its resolution.

The Kanasra and Pitafi feud in Khairpur started in 2014 when livestock of a boy belonging to the Pitafi community entered the Kanasras’ fields.

As a result Kanasras were “annoyed” and they killed the boy, Mir Abdullah Pitafi, aged between 10 and 12 years.

In “retaliation”, Pitafi gunmen murdered three persons, including Advocate Sahib Khan Kanasro.

The Nareja and Bhutta feud in Khairpur started on Oct 7, 2016 after an encounter took place in the jurisdiction of the Faiz Mohammad Narejo police station. As a result two police constables were martyred and suspected dacoit Bilawal, alias Billoo Narejo, was killed. The killed suspect was a son of dacoit Ahmedoo Narejo, who had “suspicions that his son Bilawal was murdered by police constable Atta Mohammad Bhutto being a member of the police party”.

Ahmedoo Narejo had gunned down three members of the Bhutto community in “revenge” while the Bhutta community murdered Abdul Hakeem Narejo.

The police have made a “heavy deployment of force, including six vehicles, in the areas”.

The Shar and Seelra feud in Ghotki arose over a dispute on possession of katcha land.

On March 29, 2007, the Shar community persons attacked Seelras while they were grazing their cattle in the katcha area.

As a result three buffaloes were killed, whereas people of the Shar tribe took away 20 buffaloes of the Seelras from the disputed land.

The Pitafi and Gadani feud in Ghotki erupted over a dispute on inherited land among three brothers of the Gadani tribe — Mohammed Khan Gadani, Mustafa Gadani and Haji Murad Gadani.

Mustafa Gadani was enjoying possession of more land than his share and he sold the additional land to the Pitafis and settled them in his houses located between the houses of his two brothers. It triggered a bloody clash between the two sides, prompting the police to increase their presence through picketing and patrolling in the areas.

The police study claims that there has been no bloody tribal feud in three other regions — Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and Karachi.

Impact

Due to these bloody feuds, schools often remain closed and the overall literacy rate is very low while the basic health units and rural health units also remain closed, adding to sufferings of women facing reproductive health issues.

Polio campaigns are also affected adversely. Furthermore, economic activity is badly affected.

“Once such dispute is initiated, no member of a conflicting tribe can move freely to look after his crop or carry on his job at another village, because of the fear of getting killed by the adversaries.

“Properties are destroyed and livestock perish and the situation results in financial crises.”

There is also a severe blow to culture as ‘weapons’ culture prevails over culture of peace and harmony, therefore the terrified people stop to hold and attend all sorts of social gatherings, local festivals and marriage ceremonies in a traditional manner.”

The police believed that crimes and tribal feuds were closely interlinked as proclaimed offenders and absconders produced as a result of such conflicts cannot “earn their livelihood from some kind of business or job in the settled areas and are restricted to their safe areas”.

“In order to feed their family members, they turn into criminals and commit all sort of crime.”

Because of a significant increase in crimes, the Indus Highway is adversely affected by the tribal feuds as most of the tribes, who are at loggerheads with each other, are sandwiched between the Indus Highway and the Indus River.

The study claims that armed men of the said tribes are “involved in kidnapping for ransom and highway robberies”.

After committing such crimes, these criminals take just a few minutes to reach their hideouts located in the katcha areas with looted property and kidnap victims.

Thus the safe havens of gunmen of these tribes serve as “one of the biggest dumping ground of kidnapees [sic] of the entire Sindh province”.

Another disturbing thing is that in vengeance for a murder, each tribe tries its utmost to equalise the number of causalities.

Thus, the research says the worst sufferers in these clashes are the weak, poor and peaceful people because the “target killers of the rival tribes kill them with an ease being a soft target in retaliation to murders of their people”.

“Tribal feuds are serving as an industry for production of criminals of all hues.”

The police study claims that the Chhotoo gang in Punjab and the Nazroo Narejo gang in Sindh are two most conspicuous examples of notorious gangs created by tribal feuds.

It warns that if the law and order situation worsens in Shikarpur because of such feuds, it might become a security threat to petrochemical installations situated in the heart of the area of conflict near Basti Panjatan.

Recommendations

Several recommendations have been made to address these bloody feuds and minimise their adverse effects such as nomination of genuine accused in the FIRs, regularisation of forest land and initiating uplift work in the regions of conflicts.

The police paperwork says that development will “generate economic activity in the areas and once people are economically viable, they will be able to free themselves from the clutches of the tribal system and join the mainstream”.

It also suggests that uplift of infrastructure would also provide better accessibility to the areas as “most of the tribal feuds emerge in the inaccessible area having poor road network and infrastructure”.

However, the police study appreciates the provincial government’s recent initiative to construct a bridge over the Indus that would provide better accessibility to the people in Ghotki, Sukkur, Shikarpur and Kashmore districts. It would also provide better access to the law enforcers to the hideouts of the criminals in the katcha areas.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2020