The closure of roads and prolonged siege of Parachanar, headquarters of Kurram Agency, have added a lot to the miseries of thousands of families while hospitals are lacking life-saving drugs and shopkeepers are forced to shut their shops of food items.
The latest reports from Parachanar reveal that two more children lost their lives for lack of drugs in the agency headquarters hospital. According to the doctors, the number of dead children rose to eight in four days while more than two dozen are hospitalised. The two children who died in Parachanar hospitals were identified as Shuaib Khan and Akhtar Ali.
Dr Zulfikar, a senior physician in the agency headquarters hospital, confirmed the acute shortage of medicines. He said that due to continuous closure of roads, children are being badly affected by shortage of food items. Every day from 60 to 70 children suffering from various diseases, particularly malnutrition, are brought to the hospital. But the doctors are unable to provide due care and treatment to these children due to shortage of medicines.
Moreover, shopkeepers have also confirmed shortage of food items in the town. Due to halt of supplies from Peshawar, Kohat and Hangu, a large number of shopkeepers have closed their shops. A number of restaurants have also been closed. Vegetables and fresh fruits produced in Parachanar and other parts of Upper Kurram Agency are rotting.
The situation worsened in Parachanar soon after the February 2008 general elections. The government held several mediations between the Shia and Sunni tribesmen.
In 2009, the government, through former political agent Azam Khan, succeeded in striking an agreement between the rival tribesmen. Similarly, in February 2011, the administration, with the help of Afghan Taliban, signed another agreement. But all such agreements failed to materialise the dreams of peace in the area.
The Shia tribesmen from Kurram Agency, dominating Parachanar and its surrounding areas, suffered a lot as a result of the ongoing war on terror. Hundreds of Shia tribesmen have fallen prey to bomb attacks and target killings. Many have also been kidnapped. Some three months back, militants abducted 33 people, including women and children, but the government and Afghan Taliban militants failed to honour their commitments made to the Shia tribesmen who have been unable to travel between Parachanar and Peshawar for the last four years.
They have time and again demanded PIA service on the pattern of Chitral and South Waziristan. The government has recently introduced C-130 flights for the people of South Waziristan at subsidised fares, but the tribesmen of Parachanar are deprived of such facility despite the availability of an airport in the city.
