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Maulvi Nazir group decides to stay neutral
 The Ahmedzai Wazir tribe has succeeded in convincing Taliban leader Maulvi Nazir to stay neutral and not to side with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's new leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the recently-launched military operation in South Waziristan, elders said on Sunday. "Nazir is completely neutral," tribal elders told Daily Times after meeting the Taliban leader, two days before the military launched Operation Rah-e-Nijat in the agency. Last week, NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani called a 20-member jirga of elders and clerics to devise a strategy to neutralise warring tribes. Maulvi Nazir said he had told Mehsud Taliban that they were not welcome in areas controlled by the Ahmedzai Wazirs. Maulvi Nazir controls Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency, along with southern parts of the agency, while the military has launched its offensive against Hakimullah from the western, eastern and northern parts of the agency. "We have told them not to come to our areas during the military operation," Nazir told Ahmedzai Wazir elders at a meeting in Wana last week. "I have snapped ties with them," he went on to assure the elders, adding that he would not support Hakeemullah or give the military an "excuse" to expand the operation into Wazir areas. But Maulvi Nazir's "support" to the military comes at a price. Before the ceasefire could be brokered, the NWFP government agreed to a number of demands forwarded by the Ahmedzai Wazirs, including the reopening of blockaded roads and the launch of several development schemes worth millions in their areas. But a delay in the fulfilment of their demands is annoying the Wazir elders. "The government has honoured no single demand so far," elders said. Experts say the ceasefire guaranteed by Maulvi Nazir would help the military gain ground against the Taliban sooner. They said military planners would also be looking to "managing or neutralising" Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan Agency to keep the northern front safe and secure against Hakimullah's TTP. Posted by: Fred 2009-10-19 |
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