Athens, March 20 (IANS) The worsening situation in the Kurram district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reflects broader challenges in the country’s periphery, where unresolved disputes, weak institutions and politicised security responses intersect.
The prolonged closure of the Thal–Parachinar Road has escalated sectarian violence into a humanitarian emergency, forcing civilians to bear the brunt of administrative inaction, a report said.
“For more than three months, the people of Pakistan’s Kurram District have lived under conditions resembling a siege rather than a governance crisis. The closure of the Thal–Parachinar Road, the district’s primary artery linking it to the rest of Pakistan, has severed access to food, fuel, medicine and emergency care,” a report in Athens-based ‘Directus’ mentioned.
According to the report, the blockade is the result of recurring violence, contested narratives and the failure of Pakistani authorities to assert sustained control in the region.
The sectarian fighting between Sunni and Shia tribes erupted in November 2024, triggering the crisis and claiming more than 80 lives in the first three days alone.
“By the end of 2024, at least three major rounds of clashes had taken place, pushing the annual death toll in Kurram beyond 200. The violence forced authorities to shut the Thal–Parachinar Road, initially as a security measure. What followed was not a short disruption but a prolonged paralysis,” the report noted.
In January 2025, the provincial administration declared a “fragile peace agreement” between rival tribes following weeks of bloodshed that claimed several lives.
“Officials projected the deal as a breakthrough. The test was to be a government-protected supply convoy scheduled for January 4, intended to deliver food and medicine and signal the reopening of the route. Instead, the effort collapsed when the convoy’s advance team, led by Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud, came under attack in Bagan, a Sunni-majority area. Mehsud and several officials were seriously injured, underlining how little ground the ceasefire actually covered,” the report detailed.
As Kurram descended further into crisis, the report said, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was preoccupied with nationwide protests and political mobilisation, particularly concerning the detention of former prime minister Imran Khan.
“The humanitarian and security emergency in Kurram struggled to command sustained attention. Opposition parties accused the provincial administration of neglect, while government figures deflected responsibility toward federal authorities. This blame-shifting has translated into paralysis on the ground, where residents see little evidence of coordinated, sustained intervention,” it added.
Highlighting the failure of Pakistani authorities to contain the crisis, the report said, “As the conflict grinds on, Kurram remains caught between fragile truces and recurring bloodshed, its people navigating scarcity, fear and uncertainty. The siege continues, not because of inevitability, but because the structures meant to prevent it have repeatedly failed.”
–IANS
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