PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Provincial authorities in northwestern Pakistan said on Friday they planned to collect heavy weapons to stop sectarian clashes that have killed hundreds, but tribesmen in the historically lawless region said they would not give up their arms.
Kurram, a tribal district of around 600,000 near the border with Afghanistan where federal and provincial authorities have traditionally exerted limited control, has been a flashpoint for sectarian tensions for decades.
Fresh clashes between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims erupted last month, triggering a humanitarian crisis with reports of starvation, lack of medicine and oxygen shortages following the blocking of the main highway connecting Kurram’s main city of Parachinar to the provincial capital Peshawar.
Mohammad Ali Saif, spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, said authorities had decided to dismantle private bunkers – observation posts used in the fighting by both sides – and collect heavy weapons from tribesmen in Kurram to stop the violence.
However, local tribesmen have refused to surrender their weapons, citing concerns about their safety.
“Our weapons are for self-defence, not against the state,” said Jalal Hussain Bangash, a local tribal leader.
Another tribal elder, Zakir Hussain, warned that disarmament would leave the Shi’ite community vulnerable to attacks. “The government is ignoring ground realities in Kurram,” he said.
“We don’t have medicine in medical stores and edibles in the markets. Previously we would use Afghanistan when the road was closed, but now the Afghan border is also closed for us after the Taliban took over the country.”
Mehdi Hussain, a doctor at the District Headquarters Hospital in Parachinar, told Reuters that more than 80 people, including children, had died in recent weeks due to the lack of medical supplies.
The provincial government and Edhi Foundation have started sending medicines to the region via helicopters.
(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; writing by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Alex Richardson)
