KP CM doubles down on Tirah Valley displacement issue, calls jirga on Sunday to resolve dispute

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi doubled down on his claims on Tuesday regarding the controversy over the ongoing movement of people in the Tirah Valley and called a jirga for February 1 to settle the debate.

Following an increase in unrest and escalating security concerns, large-scale displacement is underway in the Tirah Valley, with thousands of families leaving their homes for safer areas, including Bara and Peshawar.

The situation has put the federal government and the provincial government at loggerheads with the former rejecting the idea of ​​planned or forced displacement, while the latter has rejected as “misleading and factually incorrect” the federal government’s claim that displacement of the residents of the Tirah Valley in Khyber district is voluntary in nature.

Earlier today, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the current displacement was part of “routine” seasonal migration, adding that there was no military operation in the area.

In a video message issued later in the day, CM Afridi said that a jirga of the KP Assembly comprising all political parties in the province had unanimously approved a 15-point agenda, with all agreeing that a military operation was not the solution to the problem and that terrorism was not eliminated through operations.

He added that everyone said that the problem should be solved by sitting together so that permanent peace could be established.

“But they did not agree and it was decided behind closed doors that another operation should be ordered in Tirah Valley. A 24-member committee was formed under the leadership of the Corps Commander and the IG FC (Inspector General of the Frontier Corps). In the 24-member committee, the elders of the Afridi tribe were told to leave their homes because they could not carry out the operation, but they did not agree with the committee, but they did not agree with the tribe. forced to leave their homes in snowfall season,” the Chief Minister claimed.

CM Afridi added that he had repeatedly made it clear that even animals could not survive due to the snowfall in the operation area and now the whole world saw the images of displaced elderly, children and women.

He further claimed that no operation was carried out due to the snowfall. “Now someone please explain to us what purpose has been achieved by these decisions taken behind closed doors? This operation was started only to defame me among my people and to end my government. But I went among my people and they gave me love and respect,” Afridi added.

“Now that they have understood that the decision to carry out the operation at this time was wrong, they have issued a press release that the people of Tirah are migrating of their own free will,” he said, apparently referring to a notification from the KP government’s relief, rehabilitation and settlement department, which was shown today by the defense minister.

“This press release is extremely dangerous, an attempt is being made to create conflict between the province, the institutions and the federation through this. This is a plan to create a lack of trust. After this press release, the nation will not trust their word in any way because the corps commander and the IGFC have made big promises to the committee.”

CM Afridi said he would convene a grand jirga of all tribes residing in Khyber on Sunday at 14 at the Jamrud football stadium, where people would be asked whether they were displaced voluntarily or forced to leave their homes.

“We will show the world that injustice is being done to us,” he said, adding that the people of KP were not useless and their lives were not cheap.

CM Afridi said that around the time of PTI government’s ouster through a vote of no confidence, when militant activity started resurgence, peace jirgas and marches were organized across Khyber, Hazara, Malakand, Dera Ismail Khan and Waziristan.

“We warned that … terrorism was forced upon us again. At that time, the illegitimate government of the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) said we were spreading false propaganda,” he said, adding that a large number of Pakhtuns later took to the streets to reject decisions made behind closed doors, adding that districts where people continued to oppose peaceful decisions today.

In contrast, the Prime Minister said that areas where the threat was not taken seriously were again suffering from unrest.

CM Afridi claimed that despite 22 major operations and more than 14,000 intelligence-based operations, peace could not be maintained and questioned what positive results could be expected from launching another operation in Tirah.

Read also: CM Afridi warns PM’s delays in NFC transfers pushing KP into ‘acute fiscal crisis’

Afridi added that his government had released Rs 4 billion for the care of affected families, citing past experiences where victims of previous operations were promised compensation but never received it. He said his government was determined not to abandon its people this time.

“I stand with the Pakhtun nation and will continue to fight for their rights until my last drop of blood,” he said, warning that failure to resist now would mean they would have to carry coffins for the rest of their lives.