SUMMARY

Fighting between the Kachai sub-tribe of the Bangesh tribe and the Mishti tribe can be traced to the outcome of a traditional inter-tribal meeting (a so-called jirga) convened by the two tribes on 22 March 2008 in order to settle a previous dispute. During the meeting, as negotiations stalled, participants from both tribes drew their weapons, killing as many as six participants. This event triggered a series of violence between the two groups, possibly further accentuated by the context under which the events took place. As such the area the tribes inhabited, located at the border between the remote Orakzai Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the Kohat district of the North-West Frontier Provinces of Pakistan, was radicalized by the infiltration of fundamentalist Islamic militants, mainly belonging to TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan: Taleban Movement of Pakistan). This increased existing inter-tribal tensions (such as sectarian issues), while reducing the possibility of law enforcement to intervene.

Throughout the fighting, both groups employed heavy weaponry such as mortars, assault guns and automatic rifles. Reports exist of various forms of trench warfare between the two groups. Further, bombing and torching of houses and buildings belonging to the enemy tribes are reported throughout the dyad. The level of violence was of such height that it prompted the intervention of the Pakistani military on 27 March 2008. In the aftermath of this intervention, a temporary cease-fire was reached by 31 March 2008, putting an end to this episode of fighting.

The non-state conflict between the Kachai sub-tribe of the Bangesh tribe and the Mishti tribe is first included in UCDP data in 2008. In late March that year an episode of fighting between the two tribes had resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.