Kurram Agency has once again been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A series of land dispute/sectarian clashes have once again been in evidence off and on since 2023 in the latest (and continuing sporadically) conflict that has its roots in history.

These clashes have once again caused deaths and injuries on both sides, and severe shortages of food, medicine and other necessary supplies in the middle of the coldest part of winter.

In the latest reported incident on January 4, 2025, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government’s halting, belated efforts to bring about peace through traditional jirga mediation and open the blocked roads, particularly the Thal-Parachinar road, was set back by an attack on Javedullah Mehsud, Deputy Commissioner, in which he and six others of his team inspecting security arrangements for a supply convoy to Parachinar were injured.

The Parachinar access road has been the scene of violent attacks in the recent past, the bloodiest being the attack on a convoy in which 40 people were killed.

The pattern of off and on tribal-sectarian clashes in........

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