|
|
|
| 15 May 2004 | Saturday | 24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
Stalemate continues over foreigners' registration
WANA, May 14: Negotiations to work out modalities for registration of foreigners in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region again hit snags when a tribal militant refused to agree to terms set by the government.
Officials said that Nek Muhammad, who had won clemency along with four other tribal militants in return for a pledge to remain peaceful, had turned down a new set of proposals put forward by the government.
The 27-year-old Ahmadzai Wazir tribesman, who had fought alongside the Taliban, told Dawn on Friday he would never accept the terms laid down for registration of foreign militants hiding in the region.
"How can I accept these terms? The government is changing the rules here. They are the ones who are backing out of the agreement," he said.
A parliamentarian from South Waziristan, who had helped broker the April 24 Shakai agreement, had earlier announced that 'foreigners' had agreed to register themselves and the process would begin in the residential compound of a tribal elder in Zha Ghundai near Wana on Friday.
No foreign militant came forward for registration and officials later rebutted the claim by MNA Maulana Abdul Malik. "Nothing was supposed to happen. We are still discussing the modalities," a military spokesman in Wana told Dawn.
Administrator South Waziristan, Asmatullah Khan Gandapur, convened a jirga of tribal elders later in the day to urge them to raise a tribal lashkar (volunteer force) and take action against foreign militants.
A jirga of the Ahmadzai Wazirs, the second-largest tribe in South Waziristan after Mehsuds, is meeting on Saturday to discuss the request.
"Either this guy is helpless or he is not sincere in honouring the agreement," Mr Gandapur said of Nek Muhammad.
"He is just dilly-dallying and attempting to buy time," he told Dawn by phone from Wana. "He is going back and forth, every time coming back to seek new clarifications and make new suggestions," he said.
He said that his administration had worked all night Thursday to thrash out differences on modalities and virtually accepted all suggestions of Nek Muhammad.
Mr Gandapur said that Nek first sought to change the title of the registration and then demanded that the whole exercise which was to be conducted in three phases should be completed in a single phase.
"We agreed and he promised to return by 10am. He did not come and instead sent a new set of proposals through a tribal jirga, refusing to give any guarantee for the future peaceful conduct of foreign militants."
He said it seemed that Nek did not have any influence on foreign militants who did not want to come forward and register themselves. But a senior official in Peshawar sounded optimistic and said that Nek's dilly-dallying was aimed at seeking more concessions from the government. "But this is the maximum we could offer. The government has its own limitations and we have clearly drawn the line," he said.
Official sources confirmed to Dawn that they had handed over the draft of an agreement to Nek Muhammad that gave details of the registration process and the corresponding guarantees.
According to the document, the draft agreement (Wana Agreement) would be an extension of the Shakai Agreement reached between the military authorities and the five tribal militants.
The Wana agreement draft says that general amnesty and registration would cover all foreigners in Pakistan in general and those in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the border regions of the NWFP in particular.
The first phase of the registration, it says, would begin with the signing of the Wana agreement. It would require the foreigners to appear in person before the administrator of Wana and fill out a form for registration.
|
|
|
|