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| 12 January 2004 | Monday | 19 Ziqa'ad 1424 |
Jirga offers help in operation
PESHAWAR, Jan 11: A Jirga in South Waziristan on Sunday agreed to help track down and hand over Al Qaeda remnants and their local collaborators, a tribal elder told Dawn.
"There was complete unanimity," Malik Mirza Alam said by phone from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan. Thousands of people from all nine sub-sections of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe attended the Jirga at Wana Bazaar.
The family members of the three tribesmen accused of harbouring and facilitating Al Qaeda remnants also attended the Jirga. "It shows the gravity and seriousness of the situation. There is a realization on part of our people that things are getting out of hand and it is time to act," said Mirza Alam, a Zalikhel Ahmadzai Wazir.
Mirza Alam said the Jirga had reached an agreement to extend full help to the government in capturing those involved in Thursday's rocket attack on an army camp in Wana that killed four soldiers and wounded seven others. "We realize that we have to obey the government orders," Mirza Alam said. "There is no other option. The common good of a vast majority cannot be held hostage to the whims of a few individuals."
Another tribal elder, who requested anonymity, said the Jirga understood the repercussions of the rocket attack. "Nobody wants to confront the might of the government. We realize that a wrong has been committed by those who attacked and killed soldiers."
He said the Ahmadzai Wazirs would now call on the Wana administration on Monday and convey their willingness to comply with the orders. He said the Jirga would reiterate its commitment to an earlier agreement with the government to deny sanctuary to Al Qaeda elements, capture and hand over those providing shelter and assistance to them. The tribal elder said they had also agreed to raise a tribal force (salweshti in local parlance) to track down the three wanted tribesmen and hand them over to the authorities for questioning.
"We have agreed not to allow any anti-state element to use our soil. We don't know if there are any Arabs hiding in our territory. But if there are any, we will certainly catch them and turn them over to the government," he emphasized.
Wana deputy administrator Rehmatullah Wazir welcomed the Jirga decision. "I am confident we will now be able to solve this problem once and for all," he said by phone from his office.
He said some tribal elders called on him unofficially and communicated to him the Jirga decisions. "Basically, they have said 'yes' to all our demands," he said. "They regretted the death of our soldiers and they said that they would do whatever they can to bring to justice those responsible for it."
"The good thing is that local clerics have also backed the Jirga decision and if need be, they would issue fatwas," the tribal elder said.
The government has been demanding the surrender of Haji Sharif Khan, Naik Mohammad and Maulvi Abbas for allegedly sheltering and facilitating Al Qaeda and Taliban remnants. The three men deny the charge. But the tribal elder, who belongs to the same sub-tribe as that of the accused, acknowledged they had had close ties with the Taliban when the militia ruled Kabul.
"They are Jihadis. They have been involved with the Taliban when they were ruling Afghanistan," he said. The authorities and tribal elders said they were optimistic of getting the three tribesmen now that their families too had joined ranks with the Jirga. "This is our tradition. The family of the culprit takes the lead and others follow," Mirza Alam said. Tribal elders said the three wanted men had gone into hiding and they would need some time to locate them.
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