NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Friday rejected claims that the four men killed in a raid in North Waziristan on last Monday were local tribesmen. Mr Shah said that he had allowed identification of the dead bodies but his orders were subjected to clearance from Rawalpindi. "The four killed men were foreigners," Mr Shah told Daily Times at a luncheon he had hosted for members of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) at Governor's House. He denied the tribesmen' claims that the killed men were residents of the area. One dead body was disfigured while the other was in pieces, he added.
More than one thousand tribal students and teachers of seminaries had held a demonstration in front of the North Waziristan Agency chief administrator's office on Thursday rejecting Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan's statement that the four men killed were foreign militants. The protesters also demanded that the dead bodies be handed over to them. The NWFP governor said that one of the two arrested militants was reluctant to speak at first, but later after vigorous "questioning" he disclosed "good information." However, Mr Shah did not elaborate what the "good information" was. Mr Shah, while talking about the situation in Wana, said that it was under control and militants were on the run. He also denied that foreign militants were being trained in Waziristan. "These militants are trained. Do you think trained militants need more training?"
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Mr Shah declined to link the ongoing terrorism activities in the country with the situation in Wana and said that he was unable to comment on the issue and only the investigating authorities would be able to answer this. |