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| India-Pakistan |
| JUI-F jirga in Tirah Valley to seek Fazl's advice |
| 2008-07-26 |
| The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) peace jirga in the Tirah Valley of the Khyber Agency will meet party chief Fazlur Rehman after completing negotiations with militants on Friday. Jirga members will inform Fazl of the progress in talks with Ansarul Islam (AI) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and seek his guidance for furthering the "peace process", JUI-F NWFP Information Secretary Haji Jalil Jan told Daily Times. Sources said that JUI-F jirga failed to break the ice mainly because of the cold response from the AI of Qazi Mahboob. A source privy to the three-day negotiations at an undisclosed location in Khyber Agency said, "No prominent leader of the AI met the jirga members during their three-day stay in the area." The source said that the jirga members managed to meet only leaders and nominees of the LI of Bara-based warlord Mangal Bagh. The jirga, headed by JUI-F NWFP Secretary General Maulana Shujaul Mulk, had launched their peace initiative in the Tribal Areas soon after the conclusion of the Bara operation. Without being able to arrange a truce between the two warring factions despite visits to the Tirah Valley, the jirga will now make another effort to meet representatives of the AI and discuss their peace formula, said the source. More than 60 people have been killed in fighting between the two militant outfits in the remote valley during the last month. |
| Posted by:Fred |