ஷியா சுன்னி அமைதிமார்க்கத்தினர் அடித்துகொண்டதில் 100 பேர் பலி, 3 லட்சம் இடம்பெயர்வு

ஷியா சுன்னி அமைதிமார்க்கத்தினர் அடித்துகொண்டதில் 100 பேர் பலி, 3 லட்சம் இடம்பெயர்வு

100 die in Shia-Sunni clashes
Nirupama Subramanian
ISLAMABAD: More than 100 people were killed in two days of clashes between Shia and Sunni tribes battling for supremacy of a tribal agency on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The clashes brought the death toll in four weeks of fighting in the Kurram tribal agency to well over 400, with many more injured.

Kurram has been in the grip of sectarian unrest since April 2007 widely attributed to the Taliban’s efforts to gain a foothold in the agency. The Sunni tribesmen are said to be backed by the Taliban which wants to take control of the agency, one of the seven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, to gain unhindered access over the routes into Afghanistan.

The government has been a mute onlooker to the pitched battles, unable even to break a nearly year-long economic blockade by Sunni tribesmen of Parachinar, the main town in Kurram and a Shia majority area. The road between Parachinar and Peshawar has remained cut off since November 2007.

All-out retaliation


The clashes over Sunday and Monday between the Shia Turi tribe and the Sunni Bangash tribe were particularly bloody.

They began after the Bangash ignored a unilateral ceasefire by the Turi to launch attacks on them. It led to an all-out retaliation by the Turi against the Sunni tribe’s stronghold in a village called Bagzai and both sides used heavy weaponry.

The day-long battle on Sunday was reportedly also marked by two suicide attacks on the Turi, which the Shia tribesmen are underlining as evidence that the Bangash have been taken over by the Taliban. Over 90 people were killed in Sunday’s fighting alone, after which the Turi claimed to have taken control of Bagzai.

Nine more people were killed in clashes that continued in the agency on Monday until six Sunni tribes assembled in the evening for a jirga and declared a unilateral ceasefire. But the Shia tribesmen said the Sunni tribes were powerless to enforce the ceasefire as they were controlled by the Taliban.

Meanwhile, in Bajaur tribal agency, the government halted military operations from midnight on Sunday for the month of Ramzan raising concerns that it would allow the Taliban to regroup in the agency. No ceasefire has been announced in Swat yet.

The Daily Times commented that it was a “weak-kneed response to the challenge of internationalised terror”.

Ramzan package


“In fact, the enemy will strike most effectively during Ramzan because Muslims are not willing to be active during the fasting month. Let us be frank. The Muslims who kill fellow Muslims have a poor record as far as observing the holy month is concerned,” it said in an editorial headline “Ramzan package for terrorists?”

But thousands among the estimated 3,00,000 people displaced by the aerial bombardment of Bajaur in the operations have started returning to their homes from refugee camps in cities across North West Frontier Province despite apprehensions that fighting may erupt again.

Analysts are linking the suspension of military operations in Bajaur to Saturday’s presidential election, which PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is favoured to win. The suspension made it easier for the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islami to announce its support for Mr. Zardari over the weekend