PESHAWAR: Deadly sectarian clashes have continued in Pakistan's northwestern Kurram district in spite of a tentative ceasefire struck late last week, local officials said, with the death toll now over 130 as authorities try to broker a solution.
Kurram, near the border with Afghanistan, has been a flashpoint for sectarian tensions for decades. They spilled over into a fresh wave of attacks last month when clashes between Sunnis and Shias left dozens dead.
District administration official Wajid Hussain said 133 people had been killed in the attacks in the last week and a half.
"The district administration and other relevant authorities have initiated efforts to stop fighting between the two communities but there is no breakthrough yet," he said.
A Pakistani government team mediated a seven-day ceasefire deal between the rival groups last Sunday. Armed Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalry for decades over land and other local disputes in Kurram.
Provincial authorities put the death toll at 97, with 43 people killed in the initial attack when gunmen opened fire on mostly Shia drivers and the rest killed in retaliatory clashes.
Chief Minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Ali Amin Khan Gandapur visited the area on Saturday for a large gathering of tribal elders and leaders.
"Anyone who takes up arms will be treated as a terrorist, and their fate will be that of a terrorist," said Gandapur according to a statement from his office late on Saturday, adding that security forces would remain in the area.
Residents and officials said the main highway connecting Kurram's main city of Parachinar to the provincial capital Peshawar was blocked, which had created challenges transferring wounded people to hospitals.
"Our medical team is working around the clock to perform surgeries due to the challenges in referring patients to larger hospitals in Peshawar and elsewhere," said Dr Syed Mir Hassan, from Parachinar's district hospital.
He added that they were currently treating around 100 wounded patients and had received 50 bodies during the violence.

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore this week rejected former prime minister Imran Khan’s request for bail in a case relating to nationwide riots that broke out in May 2023 after his brief detention on graft charges. 
Supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023, after his brief arrest that day. The attacks took place a little over a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for colluding with his rivals to oust him from office in a parliamentary vote in April 2022. The military rejects his allegations. 
Several cases against Khan and his party related to the May 9, 2023 violence were registered by the government, which also cracked down on his supporters allegedly involved in the riots. Khan’s party has distanced itself from the protests and accused the country’s intelligence agencies of framing his party for the violence. The military denies the accusations. 
The ATC on Wednesday dismissed Khan’s petitions seeking post-arrest bail in eight May 9, 2023 cases, including an attack on a senior military commander’s residence. The judge had reserved the verdict in another case relating to an alleged attack on a police vehicle, which Justice Manzer Ali Gill announced on Saturday.
“Resultantly I found no merits in the bail petition in hand,” he said. “Hence the post-arrest bail of Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi stands dismissed.”
The judge noted in his written statement that Khan was not “an ordinary man,” adding that none within the PTI leadership even thinks about denying his directives. Gill said that as per police, all attacks on May 9 took place against military installations, police officials and government buildings, and that too on the same day. 
The judge observed that the prosecution accused Khan of hatching a criminal conspiracy to attack government buildings and military installations. 
“The offenses fall within the prohibitory clause of Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the judge noted. “Petitioner was found guilty.”
Khan, who remains a popular figure in Pakistan despite several court cases against him, has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military. He also accuses the military of rigging the February 2024 polls in collusion with the election commission and his chief political rivals to keep him away from power. 
The military rejects these allegations and insists it keeps away from politics.