19 March 2004	Friday	27 Muharram 1425

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ISLAMABAD, March 18: The government told the National Assembly on Thursday that it would carry on military search operations in Fata until the region bordering Afghanistan was cleared of foreign militants refusing to surrender.

But Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, speaking amid noisy opposition protests against latest deadly clashes in South Waziristan, also offered the opposition a dialogue and a 'detailed debate' to find ways for an amicable solution of the situation.

He said the situation had been created by foreign militants hiding in the area for terrorist activities and the locals who had provided shelter to them. He rejected opposition demands for investigation by a parliamentary committee or commission.

"So long as militants are there, the operations will continue," he said during a brief debate that emerged from a call-attention notice given by five assembly members from Fata about Tuesday's clashes near Wana in which, according to him, at least 16 paramilitary troops and 24 'terrorists' were killed.

But the debate was cut short by Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on technical grounds provoking a token walkout by all opposition parties, including the PPP that otherwise does not object to the campaign against the suspected militants of Al Qaeda.

The furore over the issue coincided with US Secretary of State Colin Powell's talks with Pakistani authorities during which the two sides discussed cooperation in the US-led war on terrorism.

The interior minister said the latest offensive was launched after the militants had refused to surrender by the Feb 20 deadline or heed calls by the tribal elders, who also had formed lashkars to hunt for the wanted foreigners and their harbourers.

But opposition members accused Mr Hayat of not telling the truth and one of them put the death toll from the Frontier Corps at more than 50. MMA secretary-general Maulana Fazlur Rehman and some tribal MNAs accused security forces of sabotaging conciliation talks through a Jirga called for February 8 by demolishing houses of some tribesmen a night before that on the charge of providing shelter to the militants.

Maulana Fazl said the tribal area was sitting on "a powder keg" that could explode into an uncontrollable fire. "Our operation is not against the local population," the interior minister said in reply to accusations that the government was punishing innocent tribal people to please the United States.

"Our operation is against those who harbour terrorists," said the minister, who accused unspecified local tribes and sub-tribes of providing a safe haven and arms to foreign militants. Those foreign militants were described by some opposition members as remnants of Mujahideen who fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. "They should have gone back after the Jihad," Mr Hayat said and added: "Nobody has given them an NOC for creating lawlessness in Pakistan."

The opposition protests became noisy when the speaker disallowed Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan and Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai to speak on the grounds that only sponsors of a call-attention notice could ask questions about the issue raised by them.

But the opposition members returned to the house after several minutes' absence when the speaker resumed the continuing debate on President Pervez Musharraf's Jan 17 speech in parliament.

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