Tribal elders and maliks living in Bajaur Agency, tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border have decided to hand over terrorists including Osama bin Laden if they are found in the areas. At the same time some officials of the Pakistani administration staged a drama in Bajaur Agency by organising a meeting of the Taliban militants. It is ironic in the presence of officials, the officials displayed heavy weapons creating great terror among the tribesmen.
During a survey conducted by Voice For Peace it was found that several tribal elders and maliks have said that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States.
There are people who believe that Osama bin Laden along with his colleagues have been hiding in Bajaur Agency.
Newspaper said that local Taliban militants have asked the new government to end relations with the US and enforce Sharia in tribal areas and have warned tribal elders against meeting US officials.
The warning was issued at a public meeting held in Enayet Kalli near Khar on Sunday which was attended by thousands of tribesmen chanting anti-US slogans.
Addressing the meeting, local Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, Maulvi Sher Behadur and Dr Muhammad Ismail welcomed the coalition government´s move to repeal the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).
"We hail Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani´s announcement to repeal the FCR," Maulvi Faqir said, adding that the government should implement Sharia in the tribal region and sever diplomatic relations with United States.
"Taliban are patriotic people and do not want to fight with their own government. We have waged jihad against America. But the country will suffer as long as Pakistan remains an ally of the US in the ongoing war on terror in the region," Maulvi Faqir said.
The new government, he said, should not repeat mistakes of the previous government and must change its internal and external policies. He said the militants were ready for talks with the government.
The meeting urged the government to remove all new checkpoints from the area and lift a ban on non-customs paid vehicles.
The Taliban leaders warned elders of ´consequences´, if they met US officials.
A committee comprising local clerics was set up to resolve disputes among tribesmen. The committee was authorised to prepare a mechanism for eliminating un-Islamic practices like interest on loans, robbery and kidnapping for ransom from the region.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umar told a newspaper by phone that the government should formally enforce Sharia in the tribal belt.
According to a comment, with the lawmakers having taken their oath and the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the NWFP Assembly elected unopposed, the Frontier Province enters once again an era in which the majority party is also part of the ruling coalition in Islamabad. This is an opportunity which the ANP-PPP coalition must not lose. They have been given this chance because the Feb 18 vote saw the Frontier people vote overwhelmingly for the moderates. Going by the assurances reportedly given by the JUI-F leadership, the coalition´s candidate for the top slot, Mr Amir Haidar Khan Hoti, is likely to be elected chief minister unopposed. He will thus be called upon to begin the gigantic task of restoring normality to a province parts of which have turned into horrendous battlefields. The confrontation between the militants and the army has served to worsen the plight of the province´s poverty-stricken people and added to their hardship. In Swat alone, the fighting between the army and Maulana Fazlullah´s militia turned thousands of men, women and children homeless in bitter cold.
ANP chief Asfandyar Wali and the provincial party leadership have indicated that they believe in a new approach to the insurgency in Fata and elsewhere and that they will rely on negotiations but in a way that does not prove counterproductive. According to Mr Afrasiab Khattak, the ANP´s provincial secretary general, the party has already begun contacts with the militant leadership, but he made it clear that it believes in talking only to Pakistani militants and not the foreigners. Ending militancy in Fata and neutralising the bases where suicide bombers are trained are issues that deserve priority because the Taliban are on the verge of destroying tribal culture. Traditionally, the tribesmen have believed in solving their group problems through jirgas. But we have seen how the militants have attacked a peace jirga and bombed a funeral procession. There are also illegal FM stations which preach hatred and arouse people to violence. These constitute an affront to Pakhtoon values.
Mr Wali is right when he says his province needs tools for economic development and education rather than weapons. The effect of the dislocation caused by fighting in Fata and Swat can be undone if the federal government helps its provincial partners in beginning the task of economic development with speed. This also requires taking a fresh look at the quantum of provincial autonomy enshrined in the 1973 Constitution and amending it to meet the demands of the smaller provinces, while also taking Balochistan´s problems into consideration. Some other steps are overdue — like extending the Political Parties´ Act and the high court´s jurisdiction to Fata. Because of the absence of these laws, foreigners — and criminal elements within the country — take refuge in
Fata and thus create lawlessness that hurts the local inhabitants.
The End
During a survey conducted by Voice For Peace it was found that several tribal elders and maliks have said that they are ready to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States.
There are people who believe that Osama bin Laden along with his colleagues have been hiding in Bajaur Agency.
Newspaper said that local Taliban militants have asked the new government to end relations with the US and enforce Sharia in tribal areas and have warned tribal elders against meeting US officials.
The warning was issued at a public meeting held in Enayet Kalli near Khar on Sunday which was attended by thousands of tribesmen chanting anti-US slogans.
Addressing the meeting, local Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, Maulvi Sher Behadur and Dr Muhammad Ismail welcomed the coalition government´s move to repeal the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).
"We hail Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani´s announcement to repeal the FCR," Maulvi Faqir said, adding that the government should implement Sharia in the tribal region and sever diplomatic relations with United States.
"Taliban are patriotic people and do not want to fight with their own government. We have waged jihad against America. But the country will suffer as long as Pakistan remains an ally of the US in the ongoing war on terror in the region," Maulvi Faqir said.
The new government, he said, should not repeat mistakes of the previous government and must change its internal and external policies. He said the militants were ready for talks with the government.
The meeting urged the government to remove all new checkpoints from the area and lift a ban on non-customs paid vehicles.
The Taliban leaders warned elders of ´consequences´, if they met US officials.
A committee comprising local clerics was set up to resolve disputes among tribesmen. The committee was authorised to prepare a mechanism for eliminating un-Islamic practices like interest on loans, robbery and kidnapping for ransom from the region.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Maulvi Umar told a newspaper by phone that the government should formally enforce Sharia in the tribal belt.
According to a comment, with the lawmakers having taken their oath and the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the NWFP Assembly elected unopposed, the Frontier Province enters once again an era in which the majority party is also part of the ruling coalition in Islamabad. This is an opportunity which the ANP-PPP coalition must not lose. They have been given this chance because the Feb 18 vote saw the Frontier people vote overwhelmingly for the moderates. Going by the assurances reportedly given by the JUI-F leadership, the coalition´s candidate for the top slot, Mr Amir Haidar Khan Hoti, is likely to be elected chief minister unopposed. He will thus be called upon to begin the gigantic task of restoring normality to a province parts of which have turned into horrendous battlefields. The confrontation between the militants and the army has served to worsen the plight of the province´s poverty-stricken people and added to their hardship. In Swat alone, the fighting between the army and Maulana Fazlullah´s militia turned thousands of men, women and children homeless in bitter cold.
ANP chief Asfandyar Wali and the provincial party leadership have indicated that they believe in a new approach to the insurgency in Fata and elsewhere and that they will rely on negotiations but in a way that does not prove counterproductive. According to Mr Afrasiab Khattak, the ANP´s provincial secretary general, the party has already begun contacts with the militant leadership, but he made it clear that it believes in talking only to Pakistani militants and not the foreigners. Ending militancy in Fata and neutralising the bases where suicide bombers are trained are issues that deserve priority because the Taliban are on the verge of destroying tribal culture. Traditionally, the tribesmen have believed in solving their group problems through jirgas. But we have seen how the militants have attacked a peace jirga and bombed a funeral procession. There are also illegal FM stations which preach hatred and arouse people to violence. These constitute an affront to Pakhtoon values.
Mr Wali is right when he says his province needs tools for economic development and education rather than weapons. The effect of the dislocation caused by fighting in Fata and Swat can be undone if the federal government helps its provincial partners in beginning the task of economic development with speed. This also requires taking a fresh look at the quantum of provincial autonomy enshrined in the 1973 Constitution and amending it to meet the demands of the smaller provinces, while also taking Balochistan´s problems into consideration. Some other steps are overdue — like extending the Political Parties´ Act and the high court´s jurisdiction to Fata. Because of the absence of these laws, foreigners — and criminal elements within the country — take refuge in
Fata and thus create lawlessness that hurts the local inhabitants.
The End
