WANA, Nov 13: Two people were killed and six wounded, including three soldiers, in an explosion and subsequent firing in South Waziristan on Saturday, a day after the government announced it had reached agreement with five most wanted militants to bring peace to the tribal region.
Witnesses in Wana said security forces opened fire on people in the Wana bazaar at around noon after three soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion on the Wana bypass road.
In the ensuing stampede and hail of bullets, two people were killed and three wounded. Among the dead was Muhammad Javed Mughalkhel, a second-year student of the Cadet College, Razmak, who had come home to celebrate Eid. The other deceased has been identified as an Afghan refugee residing in Wana.
ISPR's Director-General Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan offered no comments on the incidents.
Last night, militants fired two missiles on the Scouts Camp in Wana but failed to cause any damage. Security forces responded by firing mortars and artillery on suspected hideouts.
There also reports of engagements between militants and security forces elsewhere in the Mehsud area of Waziristan.
"This is the handiwork of those who want to sabotage and derail peace in the region," head of security of tribal regions, Brig Mehmood Shah, charged at a press briefing here.
Brig Shah said the agreement, which bound the tribes to ensure that the area remained peaceful and it was not used for attacks against security forces and government installations both inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, would create an atmosphere of trust and confidence.
The tribes had also furnished cash guarantees pledging to evict foreign militants from their region, refuse them sanctuary and ensure future good conduct of the five most wanted militants who appeared before the authorities on Friday before being allowed to go home as part of the agreement.
Those who presented themselves to the authorities included Haji Sharif and his brother Haji Mohammad Omar, Javed Karmazkhel, Maulvi Abbas and Maulvi Abdul Aziz. Haji Omar had taken over from Nek Muhammad who was killed in a missile attack in July this year.
The 49-year-old militant told Dawn on phone that they had agreed to the terms of the agreement following government assurances that the army would pull out of the tribal region, those who had suffered during the military operations would be compensated and those arrested would be released.
He acknowledged that they had given undertakings to the government not to attack security forces and government installations in the tribal region.
"These people have pledged to abide by the agreement," Mehmood Shah said. "These are our own people. If there were misunderstandings, they have been removed," he said.
"The militants are now descending from mountains and returning home," he claimed.
The five-point agreement also provides for tough punishment to any tribe whose clansmen were found, 'dead or alive', to have been involved in any subversive activities anywhere in the country.
The punishment entails heavy fines as well as confiscation of movable and immovable property of the tribe concerned.
Brig Shah said that the government had agreed to release 31 militants arrested from the Shakai area early this year and could consider releasing Eida Khan and Dawar, two tribesmen accused of harbouring foreign militants in Shakai. "They have not committed any serious crime," he maintained.
