LANDI KOTAL, July 17: A tribal jirga failed on Monday to persuade Lashkar-i-Islami activists to make their leader Mangal Bagh Afridi leave Gogrina village of Khyber Agency.

According to official sources, the jirga comprising Zakhakhel elders from Bazaar area and about 200 Khasadars went to the village where Lashkar-i-Islami chief Mr Afridi was living with his disciples.

The jirga attempted to meet him, but he refused to negotiate. Activists of the group held talks with the jirga and rejected the demand for their leader to leave the village.

Earlier, the jirga met representatives of the political administration in Landi Kotal, seeking restoration of privileges of the tribe’s elders and salaries of the Khasadars.

But the political authorities demanded that the elders and Khasadar force should oust Mr Afridi from the village first.

Activists of the Lashkar-i-Islami told the jirga that their leader was preaching Islam and he had never challenged the authority of the government.