|
|
|
| 14 May 2004 | Friday | 23 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
Tribe refuses to pay penalty for attacks
WANA, May 13: Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen on Thursday refused to pay millions of rupees in fine imposed in March as a penalty for attacks on government and military installations in their areas by suspected tribal militants.
"The April 24 Shakai agreement formed the basis of 'let bygone be bygone'. Why shouldn't the penalty be part of it," Malik Noor Ali - a Zalikhel Ahmadzai Wazir - announced at a jirga. Wana's deputy administrator Rehmatullah Wazir was present at the meeting.
Muhammad Azam Khan, South Waziristan's administrator at the time, had imposed a fine of Rs5.4 million on Ahmadzai Wazir tribesmen on March 1 for attacks on government and military installations by suspected militants of the tribe, and given them one week to pay up.
The fine, the heaviest since the British created the South Waziristan tribal region in 1896, had been imposed under the collective and territorial responsibility clauses of the 1901 Frontier Crimes Regulation.
The fine was imposed following a string of rocket attacks on the Scouts Camp in Wana, the military base in Zari Noor and other military and paramilitary posts.
Noor Ali said that the Shakai agreement between tribal militants and the government had provided for a waiver of all penalties and, therefore, there was no justification for their collection.
Hundreds of tribal Khasadars, who faced salary cuts by authorities in order to make them collect the fine, also refused to receive their pay until they were paid in full.
There are about 1,200 Khasadars from the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe and the government pays them a total of Rs12.5 million in salary. The deputy administrator explained to the jirga that the fine had been imposed under the FCR and as a punishment for violation of the agreement the tribe had reached with the authorities that the government and military installations would not be targeted.
Later, Rehmatullah Wazir told Dawn that the authorities had already collected the fine from the tribe through cuts in the salary of the Khasadars, etc. He denied that the Khasadars had refused to accept reduced pay, and said it was the government that had withheld their salaries to force the tribe meet its demand to expel foreign militants or get them registered.
Officials said that the registration of 'foreigners' would begin in Zha Ghundai, about 5km to the west of Wana, on Friday. Some 50 to 60 such families living in the region for about two decades are expected to turn up for registration under the government's amnesty scheme.
|
|
|
|