LOWER DIR: Following two days of fighting between security forces and invading terrorists from Afghanistan, the Pak-Afghan border at the Maidan tehsil in the Lower Dir region remained quiet and serene on Sunday.
There was no shelling or firing from any portion of Maidan, residents and official sources told Dawn. The prior two days have seen tension in the upper regions of Maidan owing to gunfire between militants and FC soldiers.
Residents of the area claim that FC soldiers returned to their Lal Qila base on Sunday. Reports from the area indicate that the militants have either withdrawn to Afghanistan or taken refuge someplace in the vicinity.
There have been allegations of militant activity in the Maidan’s woodland regions of Safarai, Lamotai Top, and Suripao. Soldiers from Frontier Corps 185 and 181 Wings were sent to the region to stop militant movement after receiving information.
There will be a grand jirga and peace walk today.
According to the residents, the militants attacked the troops, who then returned fire. This firefight reportedly lasted the entire day.
Although there have been reports of casualties on both sides, neither the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) nor the district government have confirmed these reports to date.
A citizen group advocating for local development and peace, the Dir Qaumi Pasoon (DQP), declared on Sunday that it will host a peace walk at Timergara on Monday. In order to plan the next course of action for upholding law and order in the district, it has also called a grand jirga on Monday that includes elders, local leaders, and intellectuals.
Malik Jehan Alam, the chief of DQP, promised Dawn that measures would be taken to maintain peace and safety in the area. According to him, the militancy and widespread population displacement in the area were becoming intolerable to the locals.
According to the DQP chief, the district’s lawmakers, elders, attorneys, and young people have all been actively involved in preserving long-lasting peace in the area.
According to him, there is a deliberate plot underway to restart hostilities in the Pukhtun area.
In 2008–09, the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban of Pakistan held sway over the Maidan tehsil in the Lower Dir, burning hundreds of schools in the process.
After that, in 2009, the Pakistani army began a lengthy military campaign that succeeded in driving out the extremists from the region. Most of the militants, including their leaders, sought safety in the Afghan regions of Kunar and Asadabad.
The militants kept breaching the Pakistan-Afghan border and attacking security checkpoints in Pakistani border regions.
In the past, the militant attack in the Maidan region claimed the lives of numerous soldiers as well as local leaders.
Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the leader of Tahreek Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), was born and raised in the Maidan tehsil, which has undergone numerous ups and downs. Maulana Sufi Muhammad was the one who organized thousands of young people to oppose the US and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.
Maulana Sufi Muhammad led a violent campaign to impose Sharia law in the Malakand region and Hazara Kohistan. He passed away on July 11, 2019, in a Peshawar jail.
He was the father-in-law of Mullah Fazlullah of Swat, the former leader of the TTP, who was murdered in an American drone strike in Afghanistan.
