Former federal minister Sajid Hussain Turi has guaranteed that the tribal leaders are ready to resolve all issues related to Shia and Sunni by sitting together, but the government must first open roads and take action against banned terrorist organisation Khawarij, erstwhile TTP.

“I guarantee we are ready to resolve all Shia-Sunni issues by sitting together, but first open roads and take action against Khawarij,” he said while appearing on Spotlight with Munizae Jahangir which was aired on Aaj News on Tuesday. “Then sit with us, we will sign an agreement.”

His statement came amid the grand jirga meeting in Kohat to resolve the Kurram issue. There were hopes that the two sides would reach an agreement by the night’s end.

Negotiations are underway following a series of official jirga meetings aimed at curbing the violence that erupted after a passenger convoy was attacked on the Kohat-Parachinar highway on November 21. The incident resulted in the deaths of over 130 individuals, including women and children, and led to the closure of the highway.

In a show of solidarity with Parachinar victims, the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen staged sit-ins in Karachi for five days. Earlier in the day, police launched a crackdown on protesters. The action resulted in clashes with demonstrators who also hurled stones at policemen.

PTI leader Shaukat Yousafzai, who had joined the show via video link, said that if the former minister was ready to give a guarantee then he would request the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister to comply with the demand.

Turi accused the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government of ignoring the tribal leaders while making decisions related to the region.

MWM leader Hameed Hussain, who is also part of the jirga, shared that the government did not fulfil its promise to deliver a ration convoy that would be driven to the area. It was supposed to reach the area on Tuesday (today).

When asked, he said that the Ahle Tashih group signed a day ago and the Ahle Sunnat group was holding discussions on signing the agreement. He hoped that a consensus would be reached and the group would also sign the pact. Hameed added that the agreement said that the groups would consult their people and give their action plan.

ANP leader Haider Ali Shah, another member of the jirga, confirmed that elders were waiting for Ahle Sunnat’s response to the agreement.

What is Kurram’s issue

Turi, a PPP leader, explained that jirgas are part of tribal areas tradition and highlighted that when the government supersedes such groups to make decisions then they lose value.

The former minister claimed that KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur did not have any coordination with elders or listen to their recommendations when he visited the grand jirga.

“Obviously where operations are held, that area is cleared, peace is restored, and then rehabilitation work starts. But the provincial government prioritised deweaponisation,” he said.

He added that the Turi tribe people brought English to the area and an agreement was signed in Kohat’s Nathiagali. In 1892, an uptick was seen in the attack on the Turi tribe from Afghanistan, Central Kurram.

“The main thing is that there is no Shia-Sunni issue in Kurram. There was a land dispute in the past. Now, different groups, including TTP, Daulat Hafez Group [Khorasan], Da’esh, Afridi, Orakzai, Punjabi Taliban, and Gul Badar from Afghanistan have kept our brothers from Ahle Sunnat Jamaat hostage. They are sitting on the road with high-powered weapons. They have everything except the tank,” Turi said.

He claimed that such groups are getting money from Afghanistan.

But journalist Ihsanullah Tipu disagreed with Turi and described it as a “sectarian issue.” He added that attacks on convoys trigger sectarian differences and urged that both groups would have to sit together or else they would be victims of the conflict.

The Kurram issue was also raised at Pakistan Army’s spokesperson’s press conference earlier this month where it clarified that it was a land dispute among tribes and not an issue of “terrorism.”

Why were decisions not implemented?

The PPP leader said that a jirga was held after over 15 people were killed in a tribal dispute. They reached to decision after meeting 64 times and it was supposed to be implemented by security forces, the deputy commissioner, the DPO, and the district commissioner, he added. “The decisions were not implemented.”

He claimed that the bureaucracy did not take local leaders on board for decisions related to the area.

The CM has not held jirga with any of the groups, he added.

When asked, the MWM leader said: “We have to see how much the provincial government is powerful. How much power do they have? They have nothing. Here at jirga, DC and the commissioner are like clerks. They take everything to the security forces. Then come back to the jirga after taking their recommendation.”

He admitted that the provincial government or administration was not doing anything, but called for seeing their limitations. “If it is not terrorism, then tell us who is sitting on the roads? All the terrorists are sitting there [connecting roads] and have besieged roads. There are different groups. I say there is only one group. They have different names. Terrorists are terrorists.”

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Journalist Tipu expressed concerns that the issue may trigger sectarian conflicts in other parts of the country like it did when banned terrorists were seen in small pockets of South Waziristan in 2001-02.

On the show, Turi admitted that tribes have weapons from the Afghan war. He claimed that some of the officers also play their role in sectarian issues sometimes.

In response to a question, MWM leader Hameed said that the people were not being provided proper security. He demanded that the state should confiscate arms from those who display them and maintain the state’s writ.

“We will hand over arms, however, I am astonished, at how many people will die because of arms or because of hunger.”