Also, earlier this week, 33 alleged militants were killed in an apparent missile attack by a US drone on a hamlet in Datta Khel in North Waziristan. “The presence of foreigners will be harmful not only for yourself, but for entire North Waziristan,” Peerzada Khan, the political agent of the tribal agency, told a tribal jirga in the region as he read out a message from Governor Jan Muhammad Orakzai. The political agent said the reason for the recent cross border attacks was because some people from the same areas had gone to Afghanistan to fight coalition forces. He said if such incidents continued, allied forces would keep attacking their areas, which would result in the killing of women, children and animals.
Khan asked the tribesmen to cooperate with the authorities for quick completion of developmental projects in the agency. He asked them to hold local jirgas at regular intervals in their areas and establish peace committees for the resolution of local disputes.
Maulana Sher Khan said the Pakistan Army was bombing their areas without proof and committing atrocities. He said Americans brought these foreigners to Pakistan and trained them. He said these foreigners were mujahideen in the past, but today they were described as miscreants. Around 280 tribal elders attended the grand jirga.
Agencies add: The jirga, which consisted of tribal elders of the Atmanzai Wazir, clerics and local government representatives, pledged to cooperated with the authorities in maintaining law and order and to stop the “nefarious designs of all those elements trying to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere and developmental activities in the agency”.
The jirga warned that no cross-border action would be tolerated in the tribal areas and demanded an end to interference from coalition forces in Afghanistan. It reiterated that tribal people are peace loving and will cooperate with the government in security matters and expulsion of foreigners.