CM wants forces’ mobility restricted: Centre-NWFP row over deployment
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, July 16: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has taken exception to the deployment of army in the Malakand region and asked the federal government to restrict security forces to specific areas.
“We regret taking over of schools, colleges, hospitals and other government buildings by the troops, and the federal government should restrict the forces’ mobility,” Mr Durrani said at a press conference after meeting a jirga from the region here on Monday.
“People should not malign innocent students of seminaries for the terrorist acts in the province,” he said.
Military spokesman Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told Dawn that the troops were proceeding to places specified by the provincial government.
“The troops were there (in Swat) in accordance with the directives of the provincial government when they came under attack,” he said.
The provincial government had convened the jirga of notables, representatives of different political parties and district nazims of the Malakand region, where 16 soldiers and five civilians were killed and scores of others wounded in suicide attacks on Sunday.
Sources said the participants of the jirga criticised the provincial government for calling out the army and asked Mr Durrani to withdraw troops from the area. “What was the urgency for the provincial government to deploy thousands of troops in Swat and Lower Dir? We have suggested that the government should either pull out the army or restrict its movement to a particular zone,” a participant said.
The chief minister said members of the jirga opposed army’s deployment at public places.
Mr Durrani recalled that he had requested the National Security Council (NSC) to provide forces to be used in areas where required.
During the NSC meeting on June 4, he said, it was decided that troops would operate at the request of the respective district police officers.
“The NSC had decided that the army would have no authority to conduct operations without the permission of the DPOs concerned and there would be no deployment of troops in schools and hospitals,” he said.
“Regrettably, the army has occupied a university, colleges and hospitals in Malakand region,” he said, adding that he had sought explanation from the district coordination officers concerned for allowing the army to take over government buildings without the approval of the chief secretary.
The chief minister said he had assured the jirga that the army would not conduct any operation and the troops would act whenever the district administration required their assistance.
He said the district governments and jirga members would select safe areas where troops could be stationed.
“I assured the jirga that army would be used as a last resort,” he said. He said the jirga would engage local elders to use their influence to wipe out terrorism from the area.
He said a grand jirga would be constituted in Malakand region, in which representation would be given to political parties, ulema, district nazims and parliamentarians. There would also be jirgas at the district level in the area, he said.
He said the grand jirga would call on Swat cleric Maulvi Fazlullah to convince him to wind up his activities, including threats to barbers, video shops and ban on girls’ education. He said the cleric had left his seminary and closed his FM radio station.
Responding to a question, the chief minister said leaders of the proscribed Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) had denounced militancy and suicide attacks in Swat and Dir districts.
Mr Durrani said that peace deal with the militants in the North Waziristan Agency should be kept intact at any cost.
“We will have to pay a heavy price if the peace agreement is scrapped. We must protect the agreement,” he insisted. He said he was in touch with Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai to save the agreement.
In reply to another question, he said involvement of foreign hand could not be ruled out in the killing of three Chinese nationals in Peshawar. He said none of the secret agencies had submitted a report about the killing.
