27 June 2004	Sunday	08 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, June 26: NWFP Jamaat-i-Islami has demanded of the government to lift economic sanctions against Ahmadzai Wazir tribe in the South Waziristan tribal region.

Speaking at a Press conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday the Jamaat former provincial chief, Senator Mohammad Ibrahim, said that situation was heading towards humanitarian disaster in South Waziristan due to prolong economic blockade.

He said on the directives of senior leaders of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), he visited Wana, South Waziristan, to observe ground realities.

He said due to continuing economic sanctions and ban on transport, the local residents were facing problems and there was shortage of food and other basic necessities.

He said that the administration had also imposed a ban on the transportation of food and vegetables from outside the region due to which local farming community had suffered huge financial losses.

Senator Ibrahim said that the government had declared Yargulkhel tribe, a sub-section of the main Ahmadzai Wazir, as a hostile tribe, which might cause a sense of deprivation among the local people.

He asked the government to remove the economic blockade against the tribesmen and halt the ongoing military operation. The MMA was not opposed to the registration of foreigners, but wanted the government to take local people into confidence.