Members of the Kokikhel tribe have stepped up protests against Pakistan's government in recent weeks. Protesters have blocked a major highway along the country's border with Afghanistan, disrupting both sides of the border.

Thousands of tribe members were displaced from their homes in 2014 as part of the Pakistani military's crackdown on jihadists in the Tirah Valley, located in the northwestern state of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since then, other displaced people in Pakistan have been allowed to return home, but the Kokikhel tribe members have not.