SWAT: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has constituted a commission to resolve dispute relating to demarcation of boundaries between Bajaur tribal and Lower Dir on the point of Panjkora River.

A high-level meeting was held at Commissioner’s Office in Saidu Sharif on Thursday under the chairmanship of Commissioner Malakand Division Syed Zaheer-ul-Islam to resolve the boundary dispute. DIG Malakand Abdul Ghafoor Afridi also attended the meeting. The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner Lower Dir Aun Haider, DPO Bajaur Prince Kokab Farooq, DPO Lower Dir Captain Liaqat Ali, AC Samarbagh Faqir Hussain and AC Khar Fazlur Rahim. The high-level meeting decided to set up a commission to resolve the boundary dispute between the two districts near Panjkora River.

The commission headed by additional commissioner Malakand Division will complete all the working within 10 days and submit a report to the commissioner Malakand Division. In this regard, the next meeting will be held on April 13 in the office of the commissioner in which the next course of action will be decided in the light of the report of the commission. It was decided in the meeting that till the report of the commission and final decision, all kinds of public activities, construction of roads, procurement of timber from forests and other constructions would be banned within the disputed boundary.

Presiding over the meeting, Commissioner Malakand Division Syed Zaheer-ul-Islam said that the land dispute for 40 years is now close to being resolved and all work has been done in this regard. He said that the tribes living and owning land around the boundaries should show patience in this regard and ensure cooperation with the Bajaur and Lower Dir administrations so that the boundaries between the districts in the disputed area could be demarcated. He said that the issue of tribal ownership of land was clear and there was no ambiguity in it and setting boundaries would help resolve legal complexities. He said that with the merger of the Bajaur tribal district into the province and the extension of the powers of the civil court to the tribal districts, it was now possible to solve the problems easily. He said that the commission would prepare a comprehensive report in this regard after which the demarcation of boundaries would be implemented.

Zaheer-ul-Islam said that demarcation of boundary of districts was for the betterment of administrative affairs and it does not affect the ownership of the tribes over the lands.