ISLAMABAD: The longstanding border dispute between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), has resurfaced six months after it was resolved following demarcation of the land by local administration and Jirga.
The Thor tribe, belongs to Diamer district of GB, which is one of the two parties to thes dispute, has come forward rejecting the demarcation of dispute land with the plea that the Jirga and local administration of Kohistan (KP) have unilaterally demarcated the land without taking the Thor Tribe into confidence. The tribe claimed the demarcation has been carried out in contradiction of the agreed terms.
A press statement issued by the Thor tribe, the demarcation of land in Gandlo Nala area was made in the absence of the tribe and its representatives (members of the Jirga from Thor) on August 4, 2022. “ We not only reject the unilateral demarcation but also register a strong protest against the act of Jirga,” said the representatives of Thor Tribe in Diamer (GB), adding that the tribe would forcibly stop work on Diamer-Basha Dam project in the second phase of their protest. “As third and last option of protest, we would block the KKH and protest till the assurance of implementation of the agreement reached on January 11, 2022 in its true spirit,” said the statement.
As per the Thor tribe, in respect of the holy month of Muharram, the series of protests would start after August 12, 2022.
Earlier on August 4, 2022, Deputy Commissioner of Upper Kohistan Mohammad Asif claimed that the district administrations have demarcated disputed land of Thor (Diamer) and Harban (Upper Kohistan) in accordance with the decree issued by the grand Jirga and settled this dispute between tribes of both sides once and for all.
The Karakoram Highway was blocked earlier this week by those affected by the Diamer-Bhasha Dam in the Harban region of Upper Kohistan, forcing the grand Jirga to carry out the ruling it had made in January.
According to the Deputy Commissioner, the demarcation process was carried out by the Revenue Department in front of a 24-member Jirga, comprising 12 elders and clerics from each side. The procedure for acquiring land for the Diamer-Bhasha dam may now be started within a day or two after the resolution of land issues between tribesmen of the Diamer and Kohistan districts.
In January, 2022, the government had formally announced that the longstanding dispute over the multi-billion-dollar Diamer-Bhasha dam land site between two major tribes of KP and GB had finally been resolved by a local Jirga in coordination with Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and local administrations.
The announcement was made by the Thor-Herban grand jirga during a ceremony organized at the dam’s site. The issue was resolved after numerous sittings of a 26-member jirga that was constituted in December 2020 to resolve the territorial dispute between the Harban tribe of Kohistan and the Thor tribe of Diamer.
Along with the members of the grand jirga, WAPDA officials, GB ministers and MLAs from the Diamer district, local elders and locals from both tribes were present in the ceremony.
According to officials, in line with the decisions made by the Thor-Herban Grand Jirga, WAPDA chairman, FCNA commander, and jirga members presented cheques worth Rs400 million to the affectees who had suffered loss of lives and property in a 2014 clash.
The Thor-Herban grand jirga was constituted back in late 2019 to resolve the issue of the boundary dispute between the two tribes. The 26-member jirga comprising 13 members each from Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan and Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a series of detailed deliberations during the last two years. The grand jirga was fully facilitated by the civil administrations of Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and WAPDA during the course of their deliberations.
It is important to mention here that the demarcation dispute has been hampering progress on Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
The boundary dispute had deepened with the passage of time as neither tribe was willing to budge from their stance. Both tribes had claimed ownership of a piece of land in Gandlo Nala area, which spanned over eight kilometers. In 2014, the dispute turned violent when seven people died as a result of a clash between the two parties.
Following the clash, the GB government had suggested that the federal government form a ‘grand jirga’ to resolve the dispute.
The Diamer-Basha Dam is being constructed on River Indus and is scheduled to be completed in 2028-29. The project will have a gross water storage capacity of 8.1 MAF for the irrigation of 1.23 million acres of additional land.
