12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

WANA, May 11: A tribal lashkar on Tuesday put off its hunt for foreign militants after doubts emerged about contents of the Shakai agreement reached on April 24 between the government and tribal militants.

The postponement dealt a new blow to the government which was trying to mobilize Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen after a top militant declared that the registration of foreign combatants was not part of the Shakai accord.

Allahgai Wazir, the commander of the 1,800-strong lashkar of armed volunteers, told Dawn that they would not take any action against militants until the government came clean on the contents of the agreement.

"We will take action only if we know that registration of foreign militants was part of the deal. Then we will have a cause for action against Nek Muhammad and others," he said.

Analysts said that Nek Muhammad's speech to the jirga on Monday denying that the registration was part of the agreement had raised doubts in the minds of tribesmen. They constituted a committee of elders to seek clarification from the government.

Officials said the committee had met Wana's deputy administrator Rehmatullah Wazir to seek clarification and to see the document. Mr Wazir confirmed the meeting but said that he had told the tribesmen to let Nekproduce the document.

"If Nek says that the registration issue was not part of the deal, let him produce the document and prove his case," the deputy administrator said. "They returned in the afternoon and said that they could not get the document," he claimed.

"Put your act together by tomorrow and take action against the foreign militants. Do it yourself or we will do it on our own in which case the consequences for the tribes would be very, very serious," he said.

Nek Muhammad told tribesmen that he had a copy of the agreement but would not show it because of the government's sensitivity to making it public.