Rival sectarian groups agree on seven-day ceasefire in Pakistan | Conflict news

Local armed Sunni and Shia groups have clashed for decades, but recent fighting has killed more than 30 people.

Pakistani officials have announced a seven-day ceasefire between rival sectarian groups after days of clashes killed dozens of people in the country’s northwest.

The violence between the groups began on Thursday after gunmen attacked civilian convoys, killing at least 40 people, who were mainly Shiites. In retaliation, residents of the Kurram area targeted Sunni Muslims.

Local Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in sectarian rivalry for decades over a land dispute in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the border with Afghanistan.

After the violence, Muhammad Ali Saif, spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government and a member of the mediation team, said on Sunday that both sides had agreed to a seven-day ceasefire.

“They will also exchange prisoners and return bodies to each other,” Saif said.

He added that the ceasefire announcement was supposed to stop several minor clashes reported in the far-flung areas of the district.

The mediation team flew into Parachinar, Kurram’s main town, on Saturday and met with Shia and Sunni leaders while the district was under a virtual curfew with armed groups roaming the streets of many villages.

Akhtar Hayat Gandpur, the police chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and another member of the mediation team said Shia leaders called for the immediate arrest of those involved in attacks on civilian vehicles as well as compensation for the victims.

The Pakistani government has yet to publicly name the attackers and no one has claimed responsibility.

Earlier on Sunday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi said that once a ceasefire is agreed, “we can start addressing the underlying issues”.

Sectarian violence

Last month, at least 16 people were killed in Kurram, including three women and two children, due to clashes between the two armed groups.

Police have struggled to control violence in the area, which was part of the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas until it was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.

But Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission said 79 people were killed between July and October in sectarian violence.

The fighting in July and September ended only after a tribal council called for a ceasefire.

On Friday, several hundred people demonstrated against the violence in Karachi and Lahore.