Pakistan: Tribal elders threaten to block roads, boycott polio vaccination in protest against target killings

A jirga of tribal elders in North Waziristan has warned the Pakistan government that it will launch a strong protest movement against target killings in the region.

It is to be noted that the two-week protest sit-in being staged by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl against the killing of religious scholars and JUIF activists Qari Samiuddin and Hafiz Nauman was turned into a grand jirga, which passed several resolutions, The News International reported.

The jigra includes elders from all tribes of North Waziristan, including Member National Assembly Mohsin Dawar, chief of Waziristan Malik Nasrullah Khan, chief of Dawar tribe Malik Jan Muhammad, Tehsil Miranshah Chairman Maulana Naik Zaman Haqqani, Ulema and social and political figures. as per local media.

Announcing declaration at the end of the jirga, the elders said that Afghan Highway - Bannu-Miranshah road would be blocked for traffic from today to protest the rising incidents of target-killing in North Waziristan.

They announced banning the elders and Maliks or tribes' chieftains not to visit government offices, including the tehsil municipal administration as a mark of protest against the lawlessness, The News International reported.

While the people of the tribal district said that they would not vaccinate their children against the poliovirus and there would be a complete boycott of polio immunisation drives in future, as per the Pakistani publication.

Innocent Balochs are being killed in fake encounters and their mutilated bodies are found in remote places, according to several reports. Recently, the nine persons who were killed in fake encounters in Ziarat were first forcefully made to disappear.

The media wing of the Pakistan Army a few days back stated that the country's army have killed five terrorists in a military operation.

"The sanitisation operation will continue in the area to apprehend the remaining perpetrators and recover the abductee," the ISPR said in the statement, reported Xinhua.

Prior to that, the Pakistani Army had killed four terrorists on June 25 during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in North Waziristan.

Enforced disappearances are used as a tool by Pakistani authorities to terrorize people who question the all-powerful army establishment of the country or seek individual or social rights.

( With inputs from ANI )

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