Pro-local Taliban tribal clerics in North Waziristan on Friday demanded the army pull out of the area while parliamentarians and nazims of seven Frontier districts asked government to take military action against outlaws in Malakand Agency. Two separate jirgas were held in Mir Ali and Mardan. In Mir Ali, clerics asked the army to leave North Waziristan and guard the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The jirga in Mardan agreed to take action themselves if the government failed to initiate a military operation against outlaws in Malakand Agency within 24 hours.The clerics denounced a ban on the display of weapons in North Waziristan. JUI-Fazl North Waziristan General Secretary Maulana Abdur Rehman told the Mir Ali jirga that carrying weapon was a key element of tribal traditions and tribal people could not accept the ban. The North Waziristan administration banned public display of weapons to improve law and order situation. The ban was also aimed at keeping Al Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants away from attacking security forces in main towns. “We have feuds. Living in the tribal areas without weapons is impossible,” said the JUI-F senior leader, who recently surrendered after the government declared him “wanted”.
Eyewitnesses said that only the clerics addressed the jirga attended by around 10,000 tribesmen. The tribal elders did not speak on the occasion. The jirga will meet again on Monday to take “important decisions”. The participants demanded the removal of army from check-posts on roadside throughout North Waziristan.
Tribal militant commander Baitullah Mehsud also demanded army’s withdrawal from Waziristan. “It is part of our deal with the government that forces will be withdrawn,” he said while making telephone calls to newspaper offices in Peshawar from an undisclosed location. He said the army’s withdrawal was a “key point” of the peace deal he reached with the government and signed on February 7 last year in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan. Baitullah said all those killed on Wednesday in North Waziristan were “mujahideen” returning from “operations in Afghanistan”. He said the tribal militants did not want to clash with security forces but whenever it happened there was no other way out. He added that tribal militants would continue jihad in Afghanistan. “Jihad will continue as long as it is possible,” he vowed. Baitullah alleged that certain intelligence agencies were threatening him and were “trying to collapse the peace deal”. “Gen Safdar Hussain was sincere to peace in Waziristan but not the intelligence agencies, which are threatening to kill me,” he claimed.
The jirga of political leaders and elders in Mardan agreed to first meet NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani to inform him of the situation in the seven districts. They pledged to fight criminals in Malakand Agency themselves if the government did not take action against them. The jirga was attended by parliamentarians Ikramullah Shahid, Amanat Shah and Sikandar Khan Sherpao, former provincial minister Abdus Subhan, former senator from Malakand Agency Sahibzada Khalid Khan, nazims and other elders of the seven districts at Mardan Circuit House on Friday. The participants were from the Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Charsadda, Dir Upper, Dir Lower and Malakand Agency. The jirag was concerned over the increasing incidents of kidnapping for ransom and pledged to flush the Provincial Administered Tribal Area (PATA) of all criminals. The jirga also expressed concern over vehicle thefts and demanded a crackdown on criminals. The speakers said that a handful of gangsters in Malakand Agency had made the life of others miserable. They demanded the federal and provincial governments declare the Agency a settled area and initiate military action against the criminals. The jirga demanded the government recover Haji Lal Zada who has been in the captivity of the kidnappers for the last two months. They threatened a direct action if the government failed to start military operation against the criminals in Malakand Agency.