[Dawn] The administration of Kohistan...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns....
district has constituted a 70-member jirga of local Learned Elders of Islam and elders, which would extend help to the law-enforcement agencies in arresting perpetrators of the Feb 28 Harban bus attack.
"This jirga would also discuss ways to arrest those involved in Harban carnage with the jirga of elders and Learned Elders of Islam of Diamer. It will also convey the message of Kohistanis to people of Gilgit-Baltistan that their area should not be used for settling scores of the sectarian conflict in Gilgit," said Maulana Dildar Ahmad, a former provincial minister and key member of the jirga, while talking to news hounds at Dassu on Sunday.
The 70 members of the jirga were selected in Dassu at a big gathering, which was also attended by district coordination officer Aqil Badshah and district police officer Mohammad Ilyas.
The participants condemned killing of 16 people in Harban attack and vowed to extend cooperation to the administration in arrest of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
Maulana Dildar said that the district administration of Diamer had also constituted a jirga of elders and Learned Elders of Islam, which would hold dialogues with Kohistan jirga in Chilas. He said that besides other factors concerning the attack an international conspiracy to pitch the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan against each other couldn't be ruled out.