Kurram blockade: sit-in against 2 slain men reaches Karachi

PARACHINAR: As the Parachinar road remains inaccessible due to the ongoing violence in the Kurram valley, the blockade has entered its 75th day, with the community staging a sit-in against the killing of two men in Bagan. Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and Jaffaria Alliance have also called for nationwide protests if demands were not met.

The clashes that gripped the area last month continue to intensify with episodes of lawlessness. On Sunday night, two young men belonging to Parachinar, attempting to return to their homes were stopped and decapitated in the Bagan area of district Kurram.

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Their bodies were returned to the families on Tuesday, and the community is holding a sit-in with the bodies. MWM on Monday had called for a nationwide protest, with Shia cleric Maulana Hasan Zafar urging people to come out and raise their voice against the violence in Parachinar on X formally Twitter, as the sit-in at Numaish began last night.

Ishaq Hussain and Waseem Hussain, had recently returned from abroad and had hired the services of some persons to reach Parachinar. Some reports also said that the men who had agreed to bring them were their acquaintances who had taken a sum of money of around Rs70,000 to take them home safely. They were, however, intercepted by culprits who shot them dead and beheaded them later.

According to Dawn, the National Assembly lawmaker Hameed Hussain and Jalal Hussain, a Turi tribal elder condemned the heinous act in strong words, demanding urgent arrest. They said that the timings of the incident would only strain the peace efforts and that the main highway must be secured as soon as possible.

KURRAM AGENCY HAS BECOME PALESTINE-GAZA: JAFFARIA ALLIANCE

Addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Monday, the Head of Jaffaria Alliance Pakistan, Allama Syed Razi Jafar Naqvi, said that the Jafaria community of Pakistan announces its full support for the ongoing sit-in in Parachinar. He said that they want to convey this message to the federal and provincial governments, state institutions, and district administration that the residents of Kurram district should not be sacrificed for political revenge and sectarian bias, and the Shia community residing in Kurram should not be targeted for their political revenge.

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He added that the situation in Parachinar was being deliberately escalated: “Kurram Agency has become Palestine-Gaza; it is no longer a part of the country. The roads to Parachinar are closed and there is a severe shortage of medicines and food items. More than 30 innocent children have been ‘martyred’ so far in the two-month-long siege. The lives of millions of people are in serious danger. The government should use all its resources to ensure lasting peace.”