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Pak elders make nice with al-Qaeda forces
Pakistani tribal elders tried again yesterday to persuade al-Qaida fighters and their tribal allies to surrender and end a bloody week-long confrontation near the Afghan border. The elders met representatives of the rebels on Monday and presented government demands, including the surrender of the gunmen, and were told to come back again yesterday, one of the elders said. When we presented the demands they said they will convey this to the people holed up in Kaloosha and asked us to return on Tuesday (yesterday) evening," said Waris Khan Afridi, referring to the village at the center of the week-long battle. "We are quite optimistic that there will be some positive development today," he said. But residents in Wana, the nearest town to the battle, said they had heard only very sporadic shelling on Monday night and all was quiet on Tuesday. The military later dismissed that as "conjecture" and "guesswork," but said an Uzbek or Chechen militant leader might be among the fighters surrounded, possibly the charismatic leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yuldashev. "It was Commander Tahir, but I doubt he is there anymore," one intelligence official said on Monday. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-03-24 |
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