KHYBER: The leaders of banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) agreed on Tuesday that they would not use civilians as a human shield in their armed struggle against security forces, nor would they extort money from anyone in the name of Zakat and Ushr in the restive Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district.
Written in Pastho on the letterhead of TTP and duly stamped by its ‘supreme council’ (Rahbari Shura), a Bar Qambarkhel elder read out the five-point agreement in front of a gathering of local tribesmen in response to their demand for ending hostilities against ordinary tribesmen and a pullout from Tirah to restore peace.
There was, however, no mention of a pullout from Tirah in the agreement inked between local elders and TTP. The leaders banned TTP vowed to continue their armed resistance against security forces and also punish those, who supported forces or found guilty of spying against them.
“Our sole purpose is an armed struggle (jihad) against anti-Islam forces and their collaborators for which we desperately need sympathies and assistance of Muslim population. We consider our involvement in internal and personal affairs of local people as inappropriate and have thus strongly refrained our volunteers from doing so,” said the agreement.
Agreement inked between local jirga and banned outfit
The agreement made it clear that TTP members would not take shelter in private houses or use it as a bunker against security forces, but they would resist any effort by forces to either capture or eliminate them at any such private building.
It claimed that none of TTP members was allowed to demand any type of money from locals in the name of Ushr and Zakat and would take strict action against those, who were found guilty of doing so if locals registered any complaint against them.
The TTP leaders, through the agreement, also agreed that no one would be abducted or tortured by them as they consider it an irresponsible act, which was harming their ‘sacred armed struggle’
It was also agreed that TTP would investigate in accordance with Sharia the killing of innocent locals and abduction or torture by unidentified armed men for which its members were blamed and local elders would be required to provide evidence of such incidents.
The Tuesday’s agreement was reached between TTP and a representative jirga of Bar Qamberkhel tribe of Tirah in Bar Bagh area. The first round of the parleys was held between them on July 28 during which TTP local commanders sought time till August 5 for conveying the demands of jirga to their leadership in Afghanistan.
Captured on video footages, the Bar Qambarkhel elders explicitly demanded an end to all types of hostilities against innocent locals and a complete pullout of all the militant groups from Tirah after a girl child was killed in a firing incident after refusal of Ushr by her parents while two handicapped bothers were also critically injured in a similar incident in July.
Both the incidents sparked widespread protests among local tribesmen in the valley with a procession of hundreds of Bar Qambarkhel tribesmen besieging a Markaz (centre) of TTP while holding the Holy Quran in their hands and pleading them to leave their area.
The Bar Qambarkhel jirga had then announced a fine of Rs5 million on those, who would pay any illegal money to TTP, and another Rs500,000 on those, who would not side with it against militant groups.
Reacting on social media, many a Tirah and Bara residents termed the agreement an eyewash, saying there was no mention of TTP leaving its ‘ground’. Some questioned as to why security forces failed to locate TTP leaders in Tirah and launch a targeted operation against them while the Bar Qambarkhel jirga met them twice and held negotiations with them.
The agreement was by and large lauded by majority of Tirah residents with the hope that they would not be harmed and harassed by militant groups as was pledged in the agreement.
Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2025