The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Secretariat said on Monday that there was no parallel government in the North Waziristan Agency following a peace deal with local Taliban. “Tribal authorities are in control of the agency’s affairs,” said FATA Security Secretary Arbab Mohammad Arif while briefing media personnel after a meeting of FATA secretaries and political agents to review the law and order situation and development activities in tribal areas.Arif rejected the reports that tribesmen sought Taliban’s help to resolve their disputes, and added that no cross border attacks were being carried out on Afghanistan from Pakistani soil. He said local Taliban had distributed a pamphlet to impose taxes on business activities in Waziristan, but that the tax had been withdrawn after a monitoring team negotiated with them (the Taliban).
He said the Waziristan peace deal would be implemented. “According to the deal, foreigners would either leave Pakistan or furnish guarantees to the authorities for their good conduct,” he said, adding that the peace accord’s implementation required time.
He said no peace deal had been made regarding the Bajaur strike that killed 82 people on October 30. Arif said the situation in Bajaur Agency was different from that of north and south Waziristan, and that there was no need for a peace deal similar to the one in Waziristan.
He said that after MNA Haroon RashidÂ’s resignation, by-elections for the vacant seat would be held on January 10, adding that around five candidates had submitted nomination papers towards that end.
He said there had been no ban on the entry of journalists to tribal areas. “Journalists’ entry had been disallowed for a short period due to security reasons,” he said. “During the meeting, political authorities were directed to ensure timely reporting of incidents taking place in their respective agencies to the FATA Secretariat for dissemination to media,” he added.
He said the political agents were also directed to send analysis reports to the secretariat on a monthly basis, and that the NWFP governor would also be kept informed of the reports. He said efforts would be made to increase interaction between the political authorities and media so that journalists could have easy access to information. Regarding the ongoing clash between two armed groups in Khyber Agency, the secretary said it was a local issue and that authorities were trying to sort out differences among rivals.