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| India-Pakistan |
| Bilour invites Swat militants to talks |
| 2008-08-16 |
| The NWFP government's peace agreement with Swat militants is intact, and the government is still ready to hold negotiations to end unrest in the district, NWFP Senior Minister and head of the government's peace committee Bashir Ahmad Bilour said on Friday. Talking to Daily Times, Bilour said the provincial government did not start the military operation against the militants. "This [operation] is the government's reaction to the militants' actions they took in violation of the peace agreement signed with the government," he said. Bilour said the NWFP government was ready to talk to the militants in accordance with the peace deal the two sides signed on May 21, 2008. He said the militants did not honour the agreement. The NWFP government re-launched the military operation against Swat militants on July 29 after the militants asked the provincial government to quit within five days for "not honouring the peace agreement". Bilour also called "baseless" the reports about the issuance of an ordinance by the provincial governor for the imposition of the magistracy system in the NWFP. An Urdu-language newspaper reported on Thursday that the NWFP governor had signed an ordinance to impose the magistracy system in the province. Bilour, who is the local government minister in the NWFP cabinet, said President Pervez Musharraf had given legal cover to the local government system and that parliament would have to amend Schedule 6 of the Local Government Ordinance, with a two-thirds majority for the revival of the magistracy system. |
| Posted by:Fred |