Jirga on recent political violence

NWFP forms jirga to talk to militants

PESHAWAR: The NWFP government formed a jirga on Monday to hold talks with “miscreants” in Malakand Division, after a double suicide attack on an army convoy in Mingora killed 13 soldiers and six civilians, Chief Minister Akram Durrani told a news conference. “The jirga of elected representatives, district administration officials and leaders of political parties will hold negotiations with the miscreants to find a solution,” the chief minister told reporters after several hours of talks with the 130-member jirga. He said a military operation would be the last resort, but warned the “miscreants”, a reference to pro-Taliban militants, that attacks on security forces would be considered an “attack on the jirga”. Durrani said jirgas for each of the six districts in Malakand Division would also be formed. “Most participants of the jirga complained about the army’s arrival in Malakand,” the chief minister said. “I told the jirga members that the decision to send troops was taken at the National Security Council meeting.” Durrani made it clear that no military operation would be carried out unless district police officer sanctioned it. iqbal khattak
============================================


CM wants forces’ mobility restricted: Centre-NWFP row over deployment

Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, July 16: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has taken exception to the deployment of army in the Malakand region and asked the federal government to restrict security forces to specific areas.
“We regret taking over of schools, colleges, hospitals and other government buildings by the troops, and the federal government should restrict the forces’ mobility,” Mr Durrani said at a press conference after meeting a jirga from the region here on Monday.
“People should not malign innocent students of seminaries for the terrorist acts in the province,” he said.
Military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told Dawn that the troops were proceeding to places specified by the provincial government.
“The troops were there (in Swat) in accordance with the directives of the provincial government when they came under attack,” he said.
The provincial government had convened the jirga of notables, representatives of different political parties and district nazims of the Malakand region, where 16 soldiers and five civilians were killed and scores of others wounded in suicide attacks on Sunday.
Sources said the participants of the jirga criticised the provincial government for calling out the army and asked Mr Durrani to withdraw troops from the area. “What was the urgency for the provincial government to deploy thousands of troops in Swat and Lower Dir? We have suggested that the government should either pull out the army or restrict its movement to a particular zone,” a participant said.
The chief minister said members of the jirga opposed army’s deployment at public places.
Mr Durrani recalled that he had requested the National Security Council (NSC) to provide forces to be used in areas where required.
During the NSC meeting on June 4, he said, it was decided that troops would operate at the request of the respective district police officers.
“The NSC had decided that the army would have no authority to conduct operations without the permission of the DPOs concerned and there would be no deployment of troops in schools and hospitals,” he said.
“Regrettably, the army has occupied a university, colleges and hospitals in Malakand region,” he said, adding that he had sought explanation from the district coordination officers concerned for allowing the army to take over government buildings without the approval of the chief secretary.
The chief minister said he had assured the jirga that the army would not conduct any operation and the troops would act whenever the district administration required their assistance.
He said the district governments and jirga members would select safe areas where troops could be stationed.
“I assured the jirga that army would be used as a last resort,” he said. He said the jirga would engage local elders to use their influence to wipe out terrorism from the area.
He said a grand jirga would be constituted in Malakand region, in which representation would be given to political parties, ulema, district nazims and parliamentarians. There would also be jirgas at the district level in the area, he said.
He said the grand jirga would call on Swat cleric Maulvi Fazlullah to convince him to wind up his activities, including threats to barbers, video shops and ban on girls’ education. He said the cleric had left his seminary and closed his FM radio station.
Responding to a question, the chief minister said leaders of the proscribed Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) had denounced militancy and suicide attacks in Swat and Dir districts.
Mr Durrani said that peace deal with the militants in the North Waziristan Agency should be kept intact at any cost.
“We will have to pay a heavy price if the peace agreement is scrapped. We must protect the agreement,” he insisted. He said he was in touch with Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai to save the agreement.
In reply to another question, he said involvement of foreign hand could not be ruled out in the killing of three Chinese nationals in Peshawar. He said none of the secret agencies had submitted a report about the killing.

===================================================

MMA chief condemns army deployment in NWFP

Staff Report
PESHAWAR: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Tuesday opposed the recent deployment of troops in the troubled districts of NWFP, saying the NWFP chief minister should have taken the MMA leaders into confidence before requesting troops from the federal government.
“The MMA was not taken into confidence. Army deployment will trigger hatred among people in the province,” Qazi told reporters after a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) meeting at Markaz-e-Islami. He said it was questionable that Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had requested the federal government to deploy troops in the province to control the situation in Malakand. He said the JI had never supported military deployment in NWFP and FATA, and had always urged for the resolution of tribal problems through dialogue.
Qazi said security forces had been deployed in Dir and Swat districts when people were mourning the casualties of the Lal Masjid operation. “Suicide attacks in Matta Bazaar, Swat and Dera Ismail Khan were in response to the killings of innocent students in Islamabad,” he said. He said local elders in several districts of Malakand division had shown their strong determination to curb the emerging insurgency in the region through a tribal jirga.
He said a military operation would not solve the issue and demanded an immediate withdrawal of the army from NWFP to avoid further casualties.
Concerning Lal Masjid, Qazi said the nation had not expected such “brutal killings” of “innocent students” at the hands of their own army. “The bloody ‘Operation Silence’ has created a gulf between people and the army,” he said, while demanding Lal Masid and Jamia Hafsa be reconstructed. He said thousands of MMA party workers would enter the Lal Masjid compound by force to offer Friday prayers on July 20 if their demands were not met. He also said the party would soon move the Supreme Court against the government for the killings during Operation Silence.
Former senior minister and JI NWFP Ameer Sirajul Haq, Finance Minister Shah Raz Khan, Social Welfare and Women’s Development Minister Kashif Azam, Health Minister Inayatullah Khan, MMA Peshawar President Hakim Abdul Waheed and Science and Technology Minister Hussain Ahmad Kanju also attended the briefing. Answering a question, Sirajul Haq said the NWFP chief minister should have informed the JI leaders of the army deployment. He said the presence of the army was prompting public anger in the area.