PESHAWAR, April 15: Authorities and tribes in South Waziristan moved closer to an agreement on Thursday raising hopes for an end to a bloody campaign against foreign militants and their local supporters. "It looks like the tribes are now willing to play ball," South Waziristan administrator Muhammad Azam Khan said on phone from Wana.

Officials here said that the breakthrough had been made possible following days of talks between tribal elders from the remaining six tribal regions and a Jirga of Zalikhel tribesmen. Dozens of military and paramilitary soldiers and suspected militants were killed in the 12-day operation near Wana last month.

Mr Azam declined to give details of the proposed agreement but officials in Peshawar said it centred on two main points: that the Zalikhels would surrender the five most wanted tribesmen or expel them from their areas.

That the tribes would either surrender foreign militants or take them under their protection ( panah ) in accordance with the tribal custom guaranteeing their future good conduct or banish them from their areas.

These officials said the tribes had also agreed to an elaborate verification system to ensure that the foreign militants and or their local supporters did not return.

Under the proposed agreement, the officials said, the Zalikhel tribes would allow a representative of an intelligence agency or a government official backed up by soldiers from the Pakistan Army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps to stay in their respective areas for as long as it required to verify the absence or otherwise of foreign and local militants.

"The number of troops to be sent or deployed in such areas would be at the discretion of the Pakistan Army. It will be the responsibility of the tribes to guarantee their protection and security and provide them with logistical support," said the officials privy to the proposed agreement.

The tribes that were found to be violating the agreement or where the presence of militants was established would face punishment in the shape of heavy fine, the officials said.

The tribes were also mulling the confiscation of property and distribution among themselves of assets of those wanted and banished from the area.

The officials reiterated that the government had no intention of handing any foreign militant over to any foreign country. The amnesty, however, does not apply to those on the US wanted list or the so-called high-value targets.

"We have conveyed to the tribes that we are willing to rehabilitate those who lay down their arms and pledge to live peacefully. We are willing to pay for the food. If we can take care of millions of Afghan refugees we may as well look after these guys. But they have to give us guarantees that they will live there peacefully," said one official.

Nek Muhammad, one of the five most wanted men, has repeatedly refused to surrender. Meanwhile, tribesmen said militants were distributing pamphlets in the rugged tribal region asking for support from native tribesmen.