Appeal for help to the international community
PESHAWAR: Delay in reopening road delays return of peace to Kurram
By Zulfiqar Ali
PESHAWAR, Oct 23: Delay in reopening of Thall-Parachinar Road despite an agreement, reached between the warring tribes of Kurram tribal region in Murree on Oct 16, is likely to shatter people’s confidence.
Under the peace agreement, signed by the rival parties, a 30-member jirga had to proceed to Parachinar on Wednesday last by road to end yearlong blockade of the area bordering Afghanistan.
Former federal minister Malik Waris Khan Afridi, who is leading the jirga, told Dawn that plan had been revised and mediators comprising notables and former parliamentarians from Fata and Hangu district along with 34 local elders were likely to go to Parachinar on Saturday.
“Both parties want lasting peace and have agreed to reopen the main road and resolve the disputes. Now this is the government’s responsibility to facilitate the process for the jirga to proceed to the area by road in order to rebuild confidence of the local people,” he maintained.
He said that further delay in reopening of the main road might shatter peace process, adding that according to the agreement negligence on the part of the local administration or any other government agency might be considered a deliberate move to sabotage the peace process.
“If administration takes jirga members to Parachinar by helicopters then it will not serve the purpose and will spoil all the efforts,” he said and urged that the government should rein in trouble makers to save the peace process.
Upper parts of Kurram had remained cut off from the rest of the country since November 6 last when fierce clashes broke out in the region.
The blockade had badly affected socio-economic activities in the region which forced local people to travel to Peshawar via Afghanistan.
The political administration had made an abortive attempt to open the road in June last for transporting food to Parachinar but the convoy was attacked near Sadda in Lower Kurram.
Sajjid Hussain, an MNA from the area, said that around 1,600 people had been killed and more then 3,000 wounded in fighting, causing large scale displacement and destruction. He said that Fata Secretariat in coordination with the Federal Interior Ministry was working out a plan for road safety.
Sources said that one of the reasons for delaying visit of jirga was immediate transfer of political agent Mohammad Azam Khan, who was posted as managing director of Sarhad Tourism Corporation.
Officials said that as the political agent was transferred after he was promoted to grade 20. Only grade 19 officer can be posted as political agent of Kurram.
“Transfer of Azam Khan at this very moment was not a wise decision on the part of the government.
His transfer conveys a clear message that government is not sincere in restoration of peace in Kurram,” said a jirga member from Parachinar. He said that Azam Khan should stay in Parachinar once joint jirga reached by road to start dialogue.
Sources said that normalcy was fast returning to Kurram valley and rival groups had voluntarily vacated trenches in sensitive areas and stopped plundering and destroying each other properties.
In Parachinar town, the administrative headquarters, local elders have voluntarily placed complete ban on display of weapons. Peace committees have been set up to check the movement of miscreants. (Dawn)
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SOS from Pakistan - Save Pakistani Shias Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/ShiaSOS/petition.html
Saturday 25 October 2008
Almost one million people of Parachinar remain stranded for more than a year by the criminals of Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba & Al-Qaeda, sponsored by ISI
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3 comments:
you have done a good effort my bro. carry on. you have tried your best to reveal the miseries of people of kurram to the people of the whole world. hope for peace
also visit
parachinar616.blogspot.com
and
join
parachinar616@yahoogroups.com
Thank you, Liakat. Indeed, the plight of innocent Sunnis and Shias in Kurram agency, at the hands of ISI, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Taliban and Al-Qadea is so tragic. I have visited your blog. Carry on the good work. Best wishes. Abdul
parachinarguy101:
first
of all salam to all friends, muslims or non muslims, shi'ites or sunnis reading these comments show that people dont know much about pathan shi'ites.
if any one want to know about shi'ite pashtuns, he should read here. i am going to tell you friends a little about them
first of all i would tell you about myself i am from pararchinar(capital and the most populous city of the most populous agency i.e. kurram agency).
i live in peshawar with my family
. we migrated from parachinar few years back. i am a computer science student in peshawar university.
the total number of shias who are true pathans(not those who only speak pashto because they have been living with pathans for so many years) may be
between 3 to 4 million and they all live in pakistan except some small numbers who have settled abroad, in places like europe, gulf and india. there are no shia pathans in afghanistan.
shia pathans are in majority in kurram agency (the most populous of all the agencies) and most of them live in and around parachinar which is the capital or headquarters of kurram agency. these shia pathans are mostly turi pashtuns. all turis are shiites. not even a single turi pashtun may be non_shia
turis live in parachinar, alizai (main cities of kurram agencies) and in areas around these two cities
Turi is one of the largest pashtoon tribe population wise, may be the largest, or second population_wise.
although the govt shows the population of kurram agency not more than 7 or 8 laks but the population is not less than 15 laks. and nearly 60 or 65 percent of this population is shiite
other tribes who are pashtun and shi'ite, not completely but partly are aurakzai and bangash
there are lakhs of shiites among the bangash.
the second largest shi'ite pushtoon population is from the bangash tribe
but a significant population is also from the aurakzai tribe
i am myself a aurakzai shi'ite (the tribe to which the n.w.f.p. governor ali muhammad jan aurakzai belongs, although he is a sunni aurakzai pashtun )
for the information of the viewers i would tell that the population of pashtuns in pakistan may be at least 35 million and nearly 35 laks of them(approximately) is shi'ite
so the percentage of shi'ite to the total pashtun population is 10%
this total population is either from n.w.f.p. or the tribal areas
and to tell you there are no shi'ite pashtuns in afghanistan or baluchistan province of pakistan
but those who have migrated from n.w.f.p or kurram agency and aurakzai agency of the fata
also to tell you that shi'ites in aurakzai agency is a strong and powerful minority round about 20 to 25 percent
they may be aurazkai pashtuns or other but not turi pashtuns
other cities of the n.w.f.p. where there are many shi'ites are
Hangu(tota populationof Hangu may be at least one million ). here the shi'ites may be 40 to 45 percent
but they are more powerful than the sunnis
they are mostly bangash pashtun shi'ites
also in Kohat division there are certain small cities where shi'ites are in major number(in majority or wholly shi'ite)
these are ibrahimzai, sherkote, and usterzai
Now to give you an interesting information
although the number of shi'ite pashtuns may be quite less ( nearly 10 percent of all pakistan pashtun population) but there influence and power is much more than the sunnis, espcially in area from parachinar upto peshawar.
this belt which covers nearly 300 kms include cities like parachinar, sadda, alizai, hangu, aurakzai agency, sherkot, ustarzai, ibrahimzai,
the shi'ites throughout this belt are a real power,
sunnis throughout this belt have fearful times.
they lead careful lives to not to irritate the shi'ites and to push them towards a war
but wars have occurred many times. and everytime the sunnis have been subjugated .
but it doesn't mean that sunnis and shi'ites always have fought. they also have very good relations with each other . especially the turis of kurram agency(parachiar) have done many favours to the sunnis. they have saved the sunni bangash of the area especially Thall city of kohat division against the sunni wazirs of waziristan. sunnis wazirs of waziristan attacked bangash( sunni) of thall many times in the past few centuries and it were the turis who helped them and saved them against the wazirs' occupation. not only saved them but taught a lesson to the wazirs. since then the wazirs have never attacked this area. so the turis got a lot of respect among the bangash. also jaji pashtuns sunnis of afghanistan who live in areas of afghanistan near the kurram agency have extremely good relations with the turis. they have also been helped by the turis. they consider not only the turi pashtuns but also other shi'ite pashtuns as their brothers because they have also been helped by the turis throughout history against foreign occupations. the turis were so famous for their bravery that even the british empire in the 1800s did not try to directly engage them in a battle for their occupation.the british entered in an agreement with the turis that they will not fight, rather the british govt. of india helped the turis in making a militia which then became the govt militia or reserved force of the kurram agency. this helped the turis expand their influence not only throughout kurram agency but upto Hangu and Aurakzai agency.this did not make the sunnis happy and since then relations between sunni areas and shi'ite majority regions of pakistan and afghanistan like parachinar, hangu, wazirstan, paktika(afghanistan) became worse.
but the real bad times came with the arrival of general Zia in pakistan and the afghan jihad in 1980s
zia himself who was extremly fanatic in his views against shi'ites but hated pashtun shi'ites especially the turis more than other shi'ites of pakistan or the world.
he feared the turis very much. he used to think that the turis are the real hinderance in sunni influence in the n.w.f.p. and fata. and it will have a bad effect on the afghan jihad
also afghan taliban and subsequently the talibanization of pakistani sunni pashtuns was another major factor in this shi'ite verses sunnni turmoil in the region. unlike punjab, or sindh or other areas of pakistan, the situation in nwfp and fata is completely different. here there is always a danger of an armed conflict between shi'ite and sunni factions because of the nature of pashtun
but unlike punjab and sindh where shi'ites are considered second class muslims or second class pakistanis and hated shi'ites in nwfp and fata are more powerful than the sunnis like in aurakzai agency, kurram agency, kohat and hangu.
here the case is opposite.
the sunnis always fear that no incident( suicide attack against shi'ite civilians or other terrorist activity) should happen otherwise the shi'ites( espcially the turis )will react like a thunder
as was the case a few days ago when sunni radicals from taliban and alqaeda attacked a shi'ite mosque in parachinar when they were offering juma prayers. within seconds shi'ites responded with heavy weapons like mortars, rocket launchers and hundreds of missiles at their cities like sadda,
and the sunnis were stunned and then were repenting.
they formally supported terrorists activities of taliban and alqaeda against the shi'ites but now they are realizing that as long as these miscreants continue their activities they cannot live peacefully with the shi'ites. taliban and alqaeda also took part in this battle. many of them were killed in the battle and also many alqaeda arabs. one senior taliban commander from afghanistan was killed in the battle.
the death toll was much higher than it was shown on tv channels of pakistan. round aboutt 60 shi'ites and 300 local sunnis and 100 foreign sunni elements like alqaeda and taliban were killed
the number of sunnis has always been high in the past battles. like that of 1961, 1986, 1996, april 2007 and november 2007. round about 4 or 5 times sunnis have been killed in these battles when compared with shias.
also to tell you that the number shown by the media of pakistan or other world media is completely inaccurate
also to tell you that in all these scenarios the real culprits who are responsible for these conditions are the taliban and alqaeda. these terrorists want that there be always a state of war between the two communities but it seves their interests. these terrorists now have started killing even their own people like civilians and security forces like they are doing in waziristan and swat and other areas of fata, nwfp and afghanistan. alqaeda and taliban terrorists kill innocent sunni pashtuns in pakistan and afghanistan. they attack on civilians and on security forces in afghanistan and pakistan.even the shiites feel the pain for their pashtun brothers among the sunnis,beiing killed by the terrorists
so let's hope that in the future relations between the sunnis and shi'ites will be better with the passage of time. the more alqaeda and taliban will be weakened, the better the conditions will prevail in our region.
lets hope so
also to tell my friends here that these elements like alqaeda and taliban will vanish soon by three forces one by american army in afghanistan, one by pakistan army on the pakistan side and third is the shi'ite pashtun belt (kohat, aurakzai, hangu,parachinar) .
but the last one is the radical elements of taliban and alqaida fear most that is the shi'ite belt
another thing to tell you that allama syed arif hussain-al-hussaini shaheed, the leader of Pakistan's islamic revolution, also known as Imam Khumeini of Pakistan was from Pewar area of Parachinar
He was martyred by the supporters of the fanatic dictator of Pakistan, Gen. Zia ul Haq.
He was not only a great shi'ite leader of Pashtun shiites, but also of other shi'ites of Pakistan and the world even.
He was the student of Hazrat Imam Khomeini and even he had had time in college or univesity with the current Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah of Lebanon.
here are some links about pashtun shi'ites
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachinar
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurram_Agency
3. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=parachinar
Do visit the third site
itS A GREAT SITE EXCELLENT SITE
OK BYE
KHUDA HAFIZ
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