02 April 2004	Friday	11 Safar 1425

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

PESHAWAR, April 1: NWFP Governor Lt-Gen Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Thursday reiterated the government's amnesty for foreign militants to lay down their arms and live peacefully as more troops were sent to South Waziristan tribal region to reinforce thousands of regular and paramilitary forces already there.

"We have been saying this, President Gen Musharraf has said this and I have been saying this to foreign militants, 'lay down your arms, surrender and we will let you live where you are. But you have to give an undertaking of good conduct, an assurance that you will not use our soil against any other country. And we promise that we will not hand you over to any country,'" Governor Iftikhar told Dawn.

The new amnesty offer to foreign militants came less than one week after thousands of troops battled foreign militants and their tribal supporters - said to be between 500 and 600 - in the volatile tribal region that borders Afghanistan.

The governor said the amnesty was meant only for those who surrendered voluntarily. "If they don't give up peacefully and are caught during a raid or an operation, the treatment of course will be different," he warned.

Officials said the army had sent more reinforcements into South Waziristan's regional headquarters Wana. A brigade of the Pakistan Army - around 3,500 troops backed up by heavy weaponry - arrived in Wana on Thursday to reinforce the almost 10,000 regulars and about 3,500 paramilitary forces based in the region.

This is by far the biggest concentration of troops in any of the seven federally-administered tribal regions. There were indications that the government was contemplating some action in the neighbouring North Waziristan tribal region.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf told a national television programme he had reports that foreign militants were also hiding in the North Waziristan tribal region. It was unclear whether the government planned to carry out the operation in Shawal Mountains lying on the borders with South Waziristan and Afghanistan.

The region with thick forests is considered to be one of the toughest areas for troops to operate and there are intelligence reports that foreign militants were heading in that direction after breaking through the military cordon in Kaloosha.

Asked why were the militants not willing to accept the clemency offer, Governor Iftikhar acknowledged that this could be because of a lack of trust and confidence.

"We don't know how else to assure them. President Musharraf has given his words. I have given my word, the political agent has given his commitment, and tribal jirgas have gone to them.

"They have no choice. They will either have to surrender, leave this area or they will get killed. There is no other option," he warned. "We do not want bloodshed in the tribal areas because our main objective is to cleanse these areas of terrorists," he said.

The governor said that foreign militants who surrendered would face questioning before being allowed to live on guarantees furnished by the host tribe.

"We need a head-count to be able to know how many of them are there and what were they doing up there and whom were they associated with," he said. The governor reaffirmed the clemency offer at a meeting with an inter-tribal jirga that called on him at the Governor's House.

He said that the jirga that had met Zalikhel tribe in Wana reported on the ten-day deadline given to the erring tribe to find and catch those responsible for the cold-blooded murder of the two naib tehsildars.

"If the Zalikhels fail, then the jirga would suggest a course of action against the erring tribe," Governor Iftikhar said. Bodies of the two junior officers were found lying in a deep well last week. They were kidnapped and held hostage by militants along with 12 soldiers of the paramilitary forces.

The Zalikhel tribe in close conjunction with a 52-member inter tribal jirga had successfully negotiated the release of 12 paramilitary soldiers. Meanwhile, official sources said that 163 suspected militants rounded up during the operation from the targeted area had been brought to Manser Camp at Attock for questioning by a Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) of various intelligence agencies.

The officials said that most of them were local tribesmen or Afghans. They, however, did not rule out the possibility of some foreign militants being among them. "Their exact nationalities would be known only after they are interrogated," said one official.

In a related development, around 6,000 armed volunteers of the Mehsud tribe continued their search for suspected militants in their part of the South Waziristan region. The Mehsud lashkar raided different areas and warned fellow tribesmen against giving shelter or supporting foreign militants.

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).