Feuding tribes 'agree to 10-day truce in Kurram'

• Estimate to be made to compensate for losses, meeting told.
• LEA troops to be deployed at key locations in Kurram: CM office.
• "Negotiations will continue to ensure lasting peace," says office. 

PESHAWAR: Feuding tribes in Kurram on Wednesday agreed to a new 10-day ceasefire, as the death toll from a week-long spate of violence rose to over 100, officials said.

"A 10-day ceasefire between the warring parties in Kurram has come into effect as of today," the office of the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Kurram, said in a statement.

A meeting presided by KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur was also briefed about the truce. An estimate will be made to compensate for the losses in the region, it was vowed in the meeting, while the statement adding that security plans and standard operating procedures were being issued for safe travelling in the area.

The chief minister welcomed the development, saying that the way of talks would be adopted for durable peace and resolution of conflicts in the area.

Over the past seven days, a total of 102 people have been killed, and 138 injured in various shooting incidents in the district.

Talking to AFP, the provincial minister's office said that troops of law enforcement agencies would be deployed at key locations in Kurram to enforce the ceasefire and compensation will be provided to the victims' families.

"Negotiations will continue to ensure lasting peace," the statement said.

The latest violence began last Thursday when two separate convoys travelling under police escort were ambushed, and at least 43 people were killed.

Police have regularly struggled to control violence in Kurram, which was part of the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.

Last month at least 16 people, including three women and two children, were killed in a clash in Kurram.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 79 people had been killed between July and October in the clashes.

Reflecting on the recent incidents in Kurram, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned the violence unequivocally.

He noted that he would take the representatives of political parties to Kurram in the next two days and also send an invitation to CM Gandapur.

Kundi also announced to summon all-parties conference (APC) in the first week of December, stressing the need for collective efforts to restore peace.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Asadullah Bhutto expressed concern over the "alarming situation in Kurram", urging the Supreme Court to constitute a commission.

Provincial officials brokered a seven-day truce last weekend but it did not hold.

A high-powered government delegation, headed by Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, after holding talks with the elders from warring sides, had announced a week-long ceasefire but it could not be implemented. Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, IG police Akhtar Hayat Gandapur and Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi were also members of the delegation.

— Additional input from AFP