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| January 06, 2007 | Saturday | Zilhaj 15, 1427 |
Sherpao to head proposed jirga commission
ISLAMABAD, Jan 5: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao will head the proposed jirga commission to establish a close liaison with the Afghan government to stop cross-border movement of terrorists, sources said on Friday.
The sources said that the formation of commission would be notified by the government in a few days.
The decision to form the commission was made after a meeting between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Thursday.
The Afghan government had also been informed about the establishment of the jirga commission.The commission would consist of five members. Three had been nominated including its head and two members -- Balochistan Governor Awais Ghani and NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai. The two other members would be nominated soon, the sources said.
“The jirga commission would be similar to a jirga recently formed by Afghan government to tackle infiltration of terrorists into its territory,” the sources added.
The Afghan government had strongly opposed Pakistan’s plan to fence and mine the border with a fear that it would separate families on both sides of the border.
It also asked Pakistan to take ‘more steps’ to maintain law and order in the border areas and stop cross border movement of terrorists as only fencing and mining would not serve the purpose.
The sources said the plan to fence and mine the border on Pakistan side would be put on hold as the government would wait for the results/objectives it wanted to achieve by establishing the jirga commission.
When contacted, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said that the plan of fencing and mining the border had not been shelved and setting up of the jirga commission was another option to tackle the problem.
“Although the government of Afghanistan has some reservations on fencing and mining the border, it is our right to safeguard our border by any method,” the minister said.
The United Nations had also opposed Pakistan’s plan to mine the border with Afghanistan and feared that it would kill innocent civilians.
However, the minister said mining was not the violation of the UN Geneva Convention. “There would be no bar on land mining if the areas, where it is put in place, are marked otherwise it is a violation of the UN resolutions,” he said.
Pakistan, he said, was not in favour of erecting fence or laying landmines, but such steps were being taken as a last resort to ward off the apprehensions of the Afghan government that Islamabad was not taking serious steps to control cross border movement of Taliban.
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