PESHAWAR, May 5: The government has announced that it will not extend the deadline that expires on Friday as tribal militants and a team of parliamentarians meet for a crucial meeting on Thursday to work out modalities for the registration of foreign militants in the tribal region.

"We will not extend the deadline," Fata Secretary (Security) Brig Mehmood Shah told Dawn in Peshawar. "We are hopeful that positive results will come out by the stipulated deadline. But if not, we will consider all options that includes the use of force, resorting to political means to resolve the issue through negotiations and reviving the tribal lashkar," he said.

Brig Shah did not say what action would the government take following the expiry of the deadline but officials closely associated with the behind-the-scene negotiations with tribal militants tacitly acknowledged that it could take 10 to 15 days for the whole process of registration to complete.

These officials told Dawn they expected some Chechens who had married locally or had married in Afghanistan but had given up fighting and were living peacefully will become the first batch to come forward for registration.

Our Correspondent from Wana adds: A group of former and present parliamentarians from South Waziristan met top tribal militants at Shakai to urge them to get foreign militants to register themselves with the government and avail the amnesty offer.

MNAs Maulana Merajuddin and Maulana Malik and former MNA Maulana Noor Muhammad met Nek Muhammad, Sharif, Maulavi Abbas and Maulana Abdul Aziz at a Madressah near Wana on Wednesday.

The meeting lasted several hours. A participant of the meeting later told Dawn that they had agreed to meet again at Zha Ghundai on Thursday to finalize modalities of the registration.