PESHAWAR, Nov 13: Following the Northern Alliance gains, former Jihadi commanders belonging to eastern Afghanistan have held a series of meetings here in a bid to strengthen their ranks.

On Tuesday, extra-ordinary activities were seen at the recently opened office of the Eastern Shoora of Afghanistan in the city. Haji Zaman, a member of the former eastern Shura from the Ningarhar province and Haji Roohullah, former governor of the Kunar province, held meetings with the tribal elders, former Afghan commanders and fighters from their areas, presently staying in Peshawar.

Apart from holding meetings with their supporters in Peshawar, they  also established contacts with their  followers in Afghanistan asking them to get ready for taking over the strategically important areas in Ningarhar and adjoining eastern provinces  after the withdrawal of the Taliban.

Haji Zaman also gave instructions to his men in Ningarhar province about  taking positions at vital locations. He also dispatched a group of some 50 fighters from among his supporters in Afghan refugees staying in Peshawar to Ningarhar for strengthening his positions in the areas important for him. However, he told a group of newsmen that he was sending a delegation to Afghanistan to persuade leaders of Northern Alliance to stick to their commitments in line with the Rome peace process.

“The time is not ripe for getting things resolved through war. The only way to end the issue is through negotiations,” Haji Zaman said.

In the wake of the fast changing situation Haji Zaman also cancelled a meeting of Jihadi commanders from Nigarhar province scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

He welcomed the retreat of Taliban from the Afghan capital, but said: “Kabul should be left to the UN peacekeeping forces and the world community should expedite its efforts to help Afghans bring back a permanent and lasting peace to their war-ravaged country,” Haji Zaman added.

He said the Afghans should take a lesson from the past and let a broad-based government and Loya Jirga (traditional assembly) to take effect.

“Northern Alliance was a part and parcel to that agreement hence they should honour it by not repeating the past,” Zaman said.

He claimed that several tribal elders, notables and Taliban commanders from the eastern zone of Afghanistan were in contact with him.

“I have assurances from several prominent people, but I can not disclose their names,” Haji Zaman claimed, who has recently arrived in Peshawar in the post Sept-11 situation.

He opposed the deployment of US ground forces in Afghanistan and said the UN peacekeepers should be deployed in Kabul.

The world community should help Afghans to establish a widely represented government, he advised. “Neither anybody would like to adopt the path of confrontation for resolving the conflict nor a confrontational path would work, any more,” Zaman said.