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| India-Pakistan |
| Sherpao rules out amnesty for al-Qaeda in Waziristan |
| 2006-03-23 |
| Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has said foreign terrorists hiding in Waziristan would not be given amnesty “because the deadline has now expired”. Sherpao said the government would use bullet for bullet to crush militants who challenged the writ of the government. “The government will hold talks unconditionally with those who want peace and development, however all should join hands to restore peace and tranquility in the region,” Sherpao told the tribal elders from Waziristan’s Miranshah, Datta Khel and Mir Ali areas at a meeting here on Tuesday. The tribal elders demanded that the government initiate a process of dialogue and immediately withdraw troops from the tribal areas to restore permanent peace. They rejected the government’s claim about the presence of foreigners in the tribal areas saying that innocent people from their tribes were being killed on the pretext of operations against ‘miscreants’ and foreigners. They urged the government to hold dialogue with tribal elders instead of going on with the military operations in the North and South Waziristan agencies. Sherpao said the government wants peace in the restive area but attacks on security forces will not be tolerated. He said the government will welcome Maulana Fazlur Rehman if he uses his influence to restore peace and order in restive Waziristan. The interior minister referred to government campaign to cleanse tribal belt of Afghan refugees and said all camps of Afghan refugees in these areas have been closed. The process of their repatriation has also been accelerated. Last year over 400,000 Afghan refugees returned to their country. The tribal elders urged the government to form a bipartisan parliamentary committee to resolve the conflict in tribal areas. But, flanked by Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli, the minister of state for information, Sherpao turned down the proposal. He said that a parliamentary committee of opposition and treasury members might politicise the sensitive issue. He sought open support from opposition members to takcle the situation. Sherpao rejected the claims of the tribal elders that security forces had only arrested Afghan refugees from their areas. “I have already said that we arrested Arabs, Chinese, Uzbeks, Turkish and Chechens from Waziristan,” he told journalists after the meeting. He said the Al Qaeda network had been broken in the tribal areas, ‘but some of its operatives are still at large and making attempts to create a law and order situation in Pakistan”. He said Al Qaeda operatives might be present in other parts of the country. He said the government had banned the display of arms in Miranshah, Mir Ali and adjacent areas. “Almost every home in the tribal areas has weapons. We have asked them not to display arms.” The interior minister favoured the process of interaction with tribal leaders, saying his ministry would facilitate negotiations between the NWFP governor and the tribal elders. Malik Attaullah and Malik Haji Muhammad Haleem, who led the delegation, told the minister that hatred of the armed forces was on the rise amongst the general public of the tribal areas. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |