Tribal Land Feud Claims 35 Lives in Northwestern Pakistan

A violent land dispute between two tribal groups in the northwestern part of the country has escalated into armed conflict, claiming at least 35 lives since its eruption four days ago, officials reported on Sunday.

The hostilities began on Wednesday when a gunman opened fire at a council meeting aimed at negotiating a decades-long dispute over farmland. Local police official Murtaza Hussain confirmed that no one was wounded in the initial attack, but it reignited deep-seated tensions between clans in the Boshehra and Malikhel areas of Kurram, near the Afghanistan border.

“The conflict has claimed 35 lives so far,” Hussain stated. “The government and local leaders are attempting to halt the fighting through jirgas (tribal councils), but have not yet succeeded.”

Such inter-family feuds are not uncommon in Pakistan, but they can become particularly protracted and violent in the mountainous region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), where traditional tribal honor codes prevail. A senior government official from Kurram, who requested anonymity, corroborated the death toll and reported that an additional 151 people have been wounded in the clashes.

“All attempts to resolve the conflict have failed,” the official said.

The violence has seen both sides utilizing automatic weapons and mortars, focusing their fighting around the town of Parachinar, which has been blockaded by law enforcement. A police source, who also wished to remain unidentified, described ongoing clashes involving both small and large weapons.

“Traffic on the main roads remains suspended due to the continuing firing,” the senior Kurram official noted.

Kurram, part of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), was merged with KP in 2018 in an effort to integrate the region into the country’s legal and administrative framework. Despite these changes, police and security forces often face significant challenges in enforcing the rule of law in these areas.