December 11, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 6, 1423

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NOWSHERA, Dec 10: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has urged the government to withdraw the armed forces from the tribal belt and to end the humiliation of the patriotic tribesmen.

Speaking to a delegation of tribesmen at the residence of his brother, Ataur Rehman, he alleged that the United States commandos and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were trespassing the limits of modesty during their hunt for the “so-called” wanted people.

He suggested that the NWFP governor and corps commander should sit with the tribesmen and decide whether they wanted to retain their old tribal setup. He urged the government to explain whether it would follow the old system in the tribal areas or enter a new arrangement with the tribesmen.

The tribesmen were not against development, they wanted to have roads, schools, hospitals and dams in their areas, but they must be consulted on all such issues, he said. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s provincial government would establish a cell for tribal affairs, he said.

He underlined the need for scraping the Frontier Crimes Regulation-40, and said it had made the lives of the tribesmen miserable.

He said democracy had not been restored after the election. Until President Gen Pervez Musharraf was in the army uniform, democracy could not flourish, he said.

The MMA would not retreat from its principled stand on the restoration of Constitution in its original form, he said.

He said the MMA didn’t believe in confrontation and it had given time to Gen Musharraf to put off his uniform and seek a vote of confidence  from parliament, the only supreme institution of the country.