June 24, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1428

KHAAR (Bajaur Agency), June 23: Elders of the Mamond tribe have said tribesmen of Bajaur Agency will raise a lashkar of 50,000 volunteers for protecting the border area.

Sources said a jirga of elders of the Mamond tribe and local militant leaders was held in the Siwai area of the agency on Friday which discussed growing incidents of violence and militancy. Malik Abdul Aziz led the tribal elders and Maulana Syed Mohammad and Maulana Inayet Rehman represented the militants.

The sources said the militants assured the tribal elders that they would not display firearms in the Bajaur Agency and cooperate with the administration in maintaining peace in the area bordering Afghanistan.

They said the tribal elders expressed concern over lawlessness in the agency and display of arms in the bazaars and markets by masked men. The elders conveyed their displeasure to the militants’ leaders over the movement of militants and said such activities were promoting lawlessness in the area.

The militants’ leaders denounced recent terrorist activities in the agency and denied their involvement in the incidents. They assured the tribal elders that they would respect the decisions of the elders and would not display weapons.

CLASH: Five people were wounded when two rival groups clashed in the Lal Qala area of the Lower Dir district. Police fired tear gas shells to disperse supporters of the rival groups.

Officials said that residents of Nagotal and Nanbati in Midan area had a dispute over a forest land. One of the groups had brought a fallen tree to the Lal Qala police station a few days ago which irritated people of the other group.

The clash erupted when the two groups tried to take away the tree from the police station. During the clash five people were wounded who were later shifted to a local hospital.