ISLAMABAD: Police have arrested two suspects of a shooting this week that injured a senior administration official in the northwestern Pakistani district of Kurram that has been hit by clashes for more than two months, a police official said on Sunday.
Kurram, a tribal district of around 600,000 where federal and provincial authorities have traditionally exerted limited control, has frequently witnessed violence between its Sunni and Shiite communities over land and power. Travelers to and from the area often ride in convoys escorted by security officials.
Fresh feuding began on Nov. 21 when gunmen ambushed a convoy and killed 52 people, mostly Shiites. The assault triggered road closures and other measures that have disrupted people’s access to medicine, food, fuel, education and work and created a humanitarian crisis in the area, where authorities say at least 150 people have been killed in two months of clashes.
Additional Assistant Commissioner Sayed Manan was injured in a crossfire between warring tribes in Bushehra area while he was trying to ensure a ceasefire there, according to Kurram police spokesman Riaz Khan. Manan was flown to the provincial capital of Peshawar in a helicopter in critical condition after being shot in the stomach.
“Late Saturday, during a special operation, the police force took into custody suspects, Iqrar Hussain son of Aftab Hussain and Maysam Ali son of Akbar Ali, residents of Bushehra,” Khan said in a statement. “Further investigation is underway.”
Feuding tribes have been engaged in battles with machine guns and heavy weapons, isolating the remote, mountainous region. The main road connecting Parachinar, the main town in Kurram, to the provincial capital of Peshawar has been blocked since sectarian fighting began in November.
The violence has continued despite a peace agreement signed between the warring tribes on Jan. 1. Under the peace agreement, both sides had agreed on the demolition of bunkers and the handover of heavy weapons to authorities within two weeks, but there has been little to no progress on the terms.
Shiite Muslims dominate parts of Kurram, although they are a minority in the rest of Pakistan, which is majority Sunni. Provincial and federal authorities have been supplying relief goods and evacuating the injured and ailing from Kurram to Peshawar via helicopters since last month.
Muhammad Ali Saif, a KP government spokesman, said on Friday “hatred” was the root cause of the Kurram issue and lasting peace in the region was not possible without eliminating it.
“All elements challenging the government’s writ will be punished according to the law,” he said, while speaking to a council of tribal and political elders in Kohat that was formed to resolve the Kurram issue.
“The Kohat [peace] agreement will be equally applicable to both parties.”

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi this week urged former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to avoid protesting on Feb. 8, the same day a tri-nation series involving international cricket teams from South Africa and New Zealand is to kick off in the eastern city of Lahore. 

Khan’s party has called on thousands of his supporters to mark the one-year anniversary of Pakistan’s controversial Feb. 8, 2024 general election as a “Black Day.” The former prime minister has urged people from all walks of life to hold protests in their respective cities against alleged rigging on Feb. 8. 

Last year’s polls were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denied the allegations. The US House of Representatives, as well as European countries, have called on Islamabad to open a probe into the allegations — a move that Pakistan has thus far rejected.

Pakistan is set to host New Zealand and South Africa for a tri-nation cricket series starting Feb. 8-14 in Lahore and Karachi. The matches on Feb. 8 and 10 will be held in Lahore. Pakistan will then host the eight-nation Champions Trophy cricket tournament from Feb. 19-Mar. 9 in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi. 

“Like before we will request them not to do this [Feb. 8 protest],” Naqvi told reporters at a press conference in Lahore on Saturday. 

“I did this before too when they started giving dates for the Nov. 26 [protests]. If they don’t [call off the protest] then...,” Naqvi paused abruptly without finishing the sentence, hinting the government would take action. 

The interior minister was referring to the party’s November protests last year in which thousands of Khan supporters arrived in the capital, threatening to demand his release from prison. The government says four troops were killed in clashes, a charge the PTI denies and says scores of its workers were also killed.  

Khan’s ouster in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022 has plunged Pakistan into a political crisis, particularly since the PTI founder was jailed in August 2023 on corruption and other charges and remains behind bars. 

Khan’s party and the government held talks last month to ease political tensions in the country. However, the PTI ended negotiations this month, saying the government had failed to honor its demands of establishing judicial commissions to probe the protests of May 9, 2023, and November 2024.