[The News (Pak)] Elders of six tribes of the Kurram Agency have demanded of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani to take serious notice of the activities of the Turi tribe allegedly involved in fomenting insurgency in the violence-hit area.Addressing a joint press conference at the Sadda Press Club on Thursday, former MNAs Haji Zareen Khan Mangal and Zulfikar Ali Chamkani and other elders of the tribes including Haji Saleem Khan Orakzai, Malik Mir Badshah Masozai, Haji Rai Khan Khoidadkhel, Malik Mir Akbar, Malik Saifullah Khan Masozai, Haji Sher Khan, Haji Gul Zaman, Fazal Hameed and Abdul Kareem Abid alleged that the Indian consulates in Afghanistan were supporting the Turi tribesmen, who were involved in the endless violence in the area.
They alleged that hundreds of Turi tribesmen had been recruited in the Indian consulates in Afghanistan where they were being trained, funded and supplied sophisticated arms. The elders alleged that they were not only involved in insurgency and terrorism in the Kurram Agency but also across the country.
They said the Turi tribesmen was trying to hide their anti-state activities by claiming themselves as innocent in the media but it was on the government record that they had deliberately spoiled the peaceful atmosphere in the area.
They said the six tribes of the Kurram Agency never challenged the writ of the government in the past while the Turi tribe took law into their hands and there was no sign of governance in Upper Kurram.
They asked as to who killed Political Agent Taj Muhammad Khan, Assistant Political Agent Masoodur Rehman and other officials in the past. They said the Turi tribe was trying to prove itself innocent.
They alleged that the Turi tribe had expelled thousands of innocent people of the six tribes from their own villages and homes in the past. They said they had not closed the main road but the armed men of the Turi tribe were behind the blockade for the last two years in Alizai and Marukhel areas and even the government officials were not allowed to travel. They said the people of the six tribes had been travelling to Kohat and Peshawar through the mountainous areas.
| It's all the fault o'them damned Turis. It's time we had us a proper feud! |