February 7, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 8, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

LANDI KOTAL, Feb 6: Two elders of the Malikdinkhel tribe were held after a tribal jirga failed to implement a deadline given by political administration to a cleric to leave the Bara area by 2pm on Sunday.

The administration had given a 24-hour deadline to Mufti Munir Shakir on Saturday and also constituted a jirga of the Malikdinkhel tribe as a last-ditch effort to persuade him to leave the agency.

The two tribal elders, Haji Amal Gul and Haji Rabat, were taken into custody after the jirga failed to persuade the cleric to leave the area. Later, the two tribesmen were shifted to a lock-up in the Khyber House, the political agent’s offices in Peshawar cantt, to force the Malikdinkhels to withdraw support to the Mufti and deny him sanctuary in their areas.

Witnesses said that about 50 vehicles of the supporters of the cleric, who were armed with deadly weapons, started patrolling the streets in Bara after the expiry of the deadline.

Meanwhile, NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman told a Kashmir Day function held in Jamrud that the tribesmen were doing a foolish thing by giving shelter to outsiders in their areas and disturb peace in the agency. There could be no peace in the agency as long as the outsiders were not expelled, he said.

Alluding to the situation in Waziristan on this occasion, he said that the trouble in the two Waziristan agencies was due to the presence of outsiders there. He urged the tribesmen to expel any controversial outsiders from the agency to ensure peace and tranquillity in the area.

Speaking on this occasion, Fata secretary security Arbab Shahzad that the presence of the Mufti in Bara was a bone of contention. He said that the administration in the Mufti’s home district had refused to accept him.

He said that soon a suitable place would be found for the cleric and then he would be evicted from the Khyber Agency to avoid any trouble in the area.

MNA Pir Noorul Haq Qadri told the function that the cleric would have to leave the agency so that the peace must not be disturbed.

Sources said that some tribesmen in the Naala locality of Bara tehsil, where the Mufti is residing, have left the area due to fear of an impending use of force against the cleric.

One of the two clerics, Pir Saifur Rehman, responsible for creating sectarian discord through illegal FM channels, had left Khyber tribal region on Feb 1 due to mounting pressure from the political authorities.

Pir Saifur Rehman, an Afghan national, had been residing in Bara since 1977 and had developed considerable following and influence. Mufti Munir Shakir, who was also expelled from the Kurram tribal agency due to his controversial sermons, actually belonged to the Karak district. After eviction from the Kurram Agency, he came to the Khyber Agency and gained support of the tribesmen.

The two clerics had risen to prominence when they set up illegal FM radio channels and began preaching their own schools of thought.

Earlier, the administration had arrested 10 supporters each of the pir and the mufti to pressure them leave the agency.