PESHAWAR, May 15: A troika of civilian and military leadership on Monday formally decided to form a grand jirga to find out solution to the volatile situation in the North Waziristan Agency and other areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata). The NWFP Governor Khalil-ur-Rehman, Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and Commander 11 Corps Lt-Gen Hamid Khan met in Governor House on Monday to hammer out modalities for the grand jirga.
Later, Inspector General Frontier Corps Maj-Gen Mohammad Alam Khattak also attended the meeting.
A handout said that the jirga would comprise maliks and ulema to work out solution to the unrest in Fata.
Sources said that it was decided to nominate 10 to 15, including five to seven Maliks and Ulema from North Waziristan and three elders and ulema each from six other tribal agencies. One cleric or elder would be nominated from each Frontier Region in the jirga.
The elders and ulema from each tribal agency would initiate dialogue with the militants in the volatile agency.
They said that 13 clerics including a former parliamentarian and three maliks had been nominated for the jirga from the North Waziristan Agency.
“Militant commanders in the North Waziristan Agency have yet to give indication to participate in the peace process,” said a source.
The handout, quoting Governor Khalil ur Rahman said that today’s meeting was a continuation of the Sunday’s meeting between him and the chief minister wherein federal and provincial governments had agreed to constitute jirga to negotiate peace in the tribal areas.
The federal and provincial governments agreed to make the jirga a lunching pad for the permanent peace in the tribal areas.
The Corps Commander Peshawar and IG FC would remove weakness in decisions making process for bringing durable peace in Fata.
It said that mandate of the jirga would take the tribesmen into confidence for checking infiltration and registration of foreigners and would negotiate peace process in the area.
Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani said that jirga had a prominent role for conflict resolution in tribal areas. “We gathered to finalise the mandate of the jirga, its members and terms and conditions and the area of influence of the grand Jirga”, Mr Durrani said.
