At least 30 children die from drug shortages in Pakistan after sectarian violence
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Key roads closed in Kurram, a hotbed of sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims for decades. At least 30 children have died due to drug shortages in part of north-west Pakistan after the regional government closed key roads in and out of the district in an attempt to quell an outbreak of deadly sectarian violence.
The district of Kurram, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, has been a hotbed of sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims for decades, and since July disputes over farmland have escalated. Violence flared on 21 November when gunmen ambushed a vehicle convoy and killed 42 people, mostly Shias. Nobody claimed responsibility for the assault, which triggered retaliatory gunfire and arson by rival groups in several areas.
At least 130 people have been killed since October. People from both groups have stayed at home out of a fear of being attacked. The regional government has said it will fully open land routes into the district only when armed groups from both sides surrender their heavy weaponry.
Syed Mir Hassan, the medical superintendent at the main hospital in the Kurram district capital, Parachinar, said at least 30 children had died as a result of medicine shortages. Locals expressed concern about a mounting humanitarian crisis. “We have a shortage of food, medicines, milk and fuel,” said 25-year-old Ahbaab Ali, from Parachinar. He said he was concerned that peoplewould soon run out of all basic necessities. “The provincial and central governments are not paying any heed to the crisis,” he said.
