PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Sunday dispatched a batch of essential medicines via a helicopter to the volatile Parachinar city in northwestern Kurram district, the Chief Minister’s Office said, where road closures triggered by sectarian clashes have made life difficult for citizens.
Sectarian clashes between Shiite and Sunni communities in Pakistan’s volatile Kurram district that broke out on Nov. 21 took 133 people’s lives and injured over 170. Authorities closed the main arteries surrounding Kurram in the aftermath of the clashes to ensure security for its residents.
A grand council of tribal elders formed by the KP government this week imposed an “indefinite ceasefire” in the district, officials confirmed. However, the road closures have made life difficult for people who say essential medicines are scarce and treatment is difficult to obtain.
“On the special instructions of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, the first batch of medicines and other essential items were sent to Parachinar today via the provincial government’s MI-7 helicopter,” the CM’s Office said.
“The second batch of medicines and other essential items will also be sent to Kurram today via a helicopter.”
The CM office said injured patients will be airlifted to Peshawar on the same helicopter for medical treatment, adding that medicines will continue to be supplied the same way to Kurram until the roads are completely opened for traffic.
State-run media said this was not the first time medicines were dispatched via helicopter to Kurram district.
“The availability of essential medicines in the area should be ensured at all times,” the statement quoted CM Ali Amin Gandapur as saying. “The process of providing medicines through helicopters in the area should continue until land connectivity is fully restored.”
He added that the KP government would utilize all available resources to provide medicines and other necessities to the people.
Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country, but Kurram has a large Shiite population, and the communities have clashed for decades. The latest round of clashes broke out in the restive district after a caravan of Shiites was attacked in Parachinar town last Thursday, killing 41.
Kurram has a long history of violent conflicts that have claimed hundreds of lives over the years. A major conflict in the district, triggered in 2007, lasted for years before being resolved by a jirga, a council of tribal elders, in 2011.
Residents of the area have demanded the government resolve land disputes that have the potential to trigger deadly clashes, to avoid sectarian tensions in the future.
