POLITICAL representatives of Mountain View Avenue in St Andrew yesterday hammered out a peace pact aimed at defusing the rising tension in a volatile area touching three political constituencies – East St Andrew, South East St Andrew and East Kingston.

The peace deal came at the end of a two-hour-long meeting involving People’s National Party (PNP) member of parliament for South East St Andrew, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) caretaker Joan Gordon-Webley and the Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair.

Blair afterwards described the meeting as “fruitful” and said all parties had agreed to lift their political campaigns out of the gutter.

“The parties will ensure that there will be no restrictions of freedom of movement. All flags and graffiti must be removed immediately or we will hold the political representatives on the ground responsible,” Blair told the Observer.

Sections of Mountain View Avenue are fiercely divided along party lines and the peace which existed in the area for over two years was in danger of being derailed after gangs from Jarrett Lane and Jacques Road became involved in running gun-battles.

Blair was adamant that the political representatives should work to maintain the peace and warned he would not hesitate to expose the guilty parties to the public.

Blair also said the parties agreed to keep the peace by mapping out their travel routes during campaigning and sharing it with each other.

“The representatives must personally and publicly make this known to their supporters,” he said.

The JLP’s Gordon-Webley yesterday indicated her conditional commitment to the peace process, insisting that there were no flags or graffiti in her area.

“Whatever I and the Jamaica Labour Party can do to maintain the peace, we will,” Gordon-Webley said, “however, I will continue campaigning and no one is going to muzzle me from speaking the truth.”

Henry-Wilson, speaking for the PNP, also expressed her commitment to defusing the rising tension in the area.

“We have never drawn any line in the sand. The peace was created and sustained by free movement,” Henry-Wilson told the Observer. “We are reiterating our commitment to ensure that communities can interact with each other.”

Yesterday, a tense calm prevailed over Mountain View Avenue as police and soldiers patrolled the impoverished communities of Jacques Road, 63 Mountain View Avenue, Back Bush, Jarrett Lane, Saunders Avenue and other pockets of potential conflict.

The current flare-up of violence left a teenager nursing gun injuries under police guard in hospital, following an alleged shoot-out in Jarrett Lane on Monday night. Police report that they were on foot patrol in the community when they were fired on by a group of gunmen. They say the fire was returned and after a search of the area the 16-year-old was found suffering from gunshot wounds.

However, residents of Jarrett Lane refuted the police’s version of events.

“The youth them run off when them see the police bwoy dem and them open fire. The youth never have no gun,” one resident said.

On Monday, a motorist was also shot in the hand after being caught in the middle of a shoot-out between rival gangs.