Parachinar, Kurram District – Traders in Parachinar, the capital of Kurram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, organized a shutter-down strike to protest the prolonged closure of the Parachinar-Tal Road due to the deteriorating security situation.
The Parachinar-Tal Road, which is the only access route to the city, has been closed since November 21, 2024, following a terrorist attack by the banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba / Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on a convoy in the Bagan area. The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 50 individuals, and subsequent clashes linked to long-standing land disputes have claimed at least 130 more lives.
A ceasefire agreement was signed on January 1, following months of escalating tensions. However, despite the agreement, peace could not be established, and the situation worsened with continued attacks on relief convoys, security personnel, and government officials, causing the ceasefire to collapse.
Haji Imdad Ali, the president of the Trade Union, told Dawn that the strike was organized to press for the reopening of the road and to make it safe for travel and trade. He added that residents were dying due to lack of food and medical supplies because they could not access treatment, as they were unable to travel to Peshawar for healthcare.
Ali further noted that no relief convoy had arrived in Parachinar since March 27 (prior to Eid al-Fitr), and more than 300 supply trucks were waiting at the Hangu-Tal and Dwaaba cities for permission to enter Parachinar, which had been delayed for several weeks.
He claimed that traders were paying over 1 million rupees for a single vehicle to transport goods into Parachinar, adding that vehicles have been stuck on the roads in Hangu for weeks, costing them around 10,000 rupees daily.
The closure of the crucial road and the ongoing insecurity have led to a severe humanitarian crisis in the region, further exacerbating the already fragile situation.
