KP CM redoubles efforts on Tirah Valley shifting issue, calls jirga on Sunday to resolve dispute

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

Following increased unrest and growing 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 brought the federal and provincial governments into disagreement, with the former rejecting the notion of planned or forced displacement while the latter has dismissed as “misleading and factually incorrect” the federal government’s claim that the displacement of residents of Tirah Valley in Khyber district is voluntary in nature.

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the current move was part of a “routine” seasonal migration and added that it was not a military operation in the region.

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

He added that everyone was saying that the issue should be resolved by sitting down together so that permanent peace could be established.

“But they did not agree and it was decided behind closed doors that another operation would be imposed in the Tirah Valley. A 24-member committee was formed under the corps commander and the IG FC (Inspector General of the Frontier Corps). In the 24-member committee, elders of the Afridi tribe were asked to leave their homes because they could not carry out the operation. The Afridi tribe did not agree with committee members, but they were forced to leave their homes during the snowfall season.” » said the chief minister.

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

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

“Now that they have realized 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 voluntarily,” he said, apparently referring to a notification from the KP government’s Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Department, presented by the defense minister today.

“This press release is extremely dangerous, we are trying to create a conflict between the province, the institutions and the federation. It is a plan aimed at creating a lack of confidence. After this press release, the nation will not trust their words in any way because the corps commander and the IGFC made big promises before the committee.”

CM Afridi said he would convene a grand jirga of all tribes residing in Khyber on Sunday at 2 pm 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 replaceable and their lives were not cheap.

CM Afridi said that around the time the PTI government was ousted through a no-confidence vote, when militant activity started re-emerging, peace jirgas and marches were organized in Khyber, Hazara, Malakand, Dera Ismail Khan and Waziristan.

“We warned that…terrorism was being imposed on us again. At the time, the illegitimate PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) government had said that we were spreading false propaganda,” he said, adding that a large number of Pakhtuns later took to the streets to reject decisions taken behind closed doors, adding that districts where people resisted such decisions remained peaceful to this day.

On the other hand, the chief minister said areas where the threat was not taken seriously were once again suffering unrest.

CM Afridi asserted that despite 22 major operations and over 14,000 intelligence-led operations, peace could not be sustained, wondering what positive results could be expected from the launch of yet another operation in Tirah.

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

Afridi added that his government had released 4 billion rupees to take care of the 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 carrying coffins for the rest of his life.