Peshawar, Jan 4 (PTI) The Deputy Commissioner of violence-torn Kurram district in northwest Pakistan was injured when assailants opened fire on his convoy on Saturday, days after a peace agreement was reached between two warring parties in the violence-hit zone.
Javedullah Mehsud, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Kurram district, and five others were injured when their military vehicles were fired upon in Kojalai Baba village near Bagan, about 200 km southwest of Peshawar, in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The firing took place during negotiations between the government officials and protestors, who had blocked the main road, officials said.
One Frontier Corps personnel, one policeman and three civilians also came under attack targetting DC Mehsud, media reports said, adding, Mehsud had played a key role in restoration of peace in the restive region.
Mehsud was in the area to review arrangements for an aid convoy that was to take food and medical aid items to Kurram, ending the over 85 days of blockade of the main Peshawar-Sadda-Thall-Parachinar road.
Following the firing incident, the convoy did not move.
“We suspect that local spoilers are involved in the attack,” said a military official.
The Alizai and Bagan tribes on Wednesday reached a peace agreement after sectarian clashes resulted in the killing of 133 people in the district between November 21 and December 2.
The clashes erupted as an aftermath of a lethal attack on passenger vans that killed 57 people near Parachinar.
Speaking about the Saturday morning violence, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said: “The attack is a heinous conspiracy by unidentified miscreants.” The situation in Kurram was “under control,” he said in Kohat, about 70 km south of Peshawar, and appealed to the Sunni and Shia communities to remain peaceful and not fall prey to conspiracies.
Kohat Regional Police Officer Abbas Majeed Marwat told Geo News that unknown people fired upon the district administration’s vehicle and clarified that it was not the tribal people (who fired).
Meanwhile, DC Mehsud, who was shot thrice, was first rushed to a hospital in the Lower Alizai tehsil and later shifted to Peshawar in a helicopter. He was out of danger, official sources said.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and provincial Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the attack on the DC’s convoy.
Gandapur sought a report on the incident from senior officials. “Such an incident after the Kurram peace agreement is highly regrettable and condemnable,” he said.
“The incident is a deliberate and malicious but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sabotage the government’s efforts for peace in Kurram,” Gandapur said, adding that those involved in the firing will face strict legal action.
Governor Kundi said, “The recurrence of firing incidents on the main highway in Lower Kurram is deeply concerning” and added that it was a “heinous conspiracy” to sabotage the peace efforts made by the Peace Jirga (council) for lasting harmony in the district.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the incident, terming it a “conspiracy to sabotage the peace agreement,” according to a statement on X by the Interior Ministry.
President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the incident while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the attack was an attempt “to undermine the peace agreement” in the region. PTI AYZ GRS NPK NPK
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