Dawn
-
05:50 Jul 12, 2025
KHYBER: Thousands of peace campaigners from the restive Tirah Valley and Bara tehsil of Khyber tribal district on Friday staged a rally, opposing an imminent military operation in Tirah and forcible displacement of the residents. Organised under the banner of Bara Siyasi Ittehad (BSI) at the Minara Jumaat Chowk, the peace rally, which later turned into an anti-military operation demonstration, was attended by thousands of people from all parts and corners of Bara and Tirah with parliamentarians, tribal elders, political parties’ representatives and civil society activists also in attendance. Amid vociferous sloganeering, the BSI president Hashim Khan Afridi declared that people of Tirah and Bara would not submit to any pressure regarding the start of a new military operation, forced displacement or formation of armed lashkars (peace committees). He called upon the government to reconsider its policy about Qabayal (residents of the seven merged districts) as it was a flawed policy and had thus failed. “The gov...