- Web Desk
- 2 Hours ago

After a long blockade, relief convoy heads to Parachinar
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- Web Desk
- Jan 04, 2025

KURRAM DISTRICT: A convoy comprising 75 trucks carrying food, medicine, cooking gas and other essential items has left for Parachinar today (Saturday), following the truce inked on January 1 between the rival tribes. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif arrived in Kohat earlier to supervise the movement alongside Commissioner Kohat, DIG Kohat, and police officials. The convoy would then be followed by another convoy transporting residents to their homes.
“The people of Kurram have been facing a severe shortage of essential items due to the ongoing blockade,” said Barrister Saif, adding that the convoy was a step towards addressing their immediate needs.
Five of the trucks are carrying medicines followed by nine carrying oil and ghee, five loaded with wheat and flour, seven carrying sugar, two taking gas cylinders, 10 carrying vegetables, while 26 are carrying other utility items. Saif stated that the police and respective law enforcement agencies are catering to the security situation in the region.
Parachinar sit-in continues
The protest, however, demanding safety on the route to Parachinar has entered day 16, while the protesters continue to camp despite the harsh weather conditions.
The decision to send the convoy comes after weeks of protests in the region, demanding the reopening of roads and restoration of basic services.
Also read: Starvation in Parachinar; no shrouds to bury the dead
“We will continue to protest till the route is not fully open and functioning. Around 4100 overseas Pakistanis have been stuck because of the road closure. The sit-in is not linked to the decision taken recently, our demands should be treated separately,” said Tehsil council chairman Agha Muzammil Hussain.
A sit-in is also taking place in the Bagan area of Lower Kurram demanding security forces to take action against banned outfits and terrorist organisations.
Facing extreme hunger as a result of ongoing humanitarian crisis, people in Parachinar were being forced to starve, while not even having shrouds (kafan) to bury the dead. Despite the instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allocate a Cabinet Division helicopter for relief activities, the region was still facing extreme misery.
The blockade which had been going on for more than two-months in Kurram had led to a shortage of essential supplies, with elders forced to ‘fast’ so that the children may have food to eat.
