Militiamen must be freed unconditionally: official
Bureau Report.
PESHAWAR, Aug 15: Authorities in the restive South Waziristan tribal region on Wednesday sounded optimistic about the release of 14 Frontier Corps militiamen being held captive by a militant group.
“There have been some positive developments and we hope that the matter would amicably be resolved in a day or two”, an official told Dawn.
Declining to give details, the official said the government had made it clear that the release would have to be unconditional. “No demands have been made to us and we have told them that we are not open to any demands either”, he added.
The official was commenting on reports that the militant group holding the South Waziristan Scouts hostages had demanded the release of 10 would-be suicide bombers arrested by police in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan in the last couple of months.
“There had been some talk about their demand regarding the release of those suicide bombers but no demand has been made to us”, the official said.
Sources said that militants associated with late militant commander Abdullah Mehsud had fallen out with the overall militant commander, Baitullah Mehsud, and had become more belligerent.
But, the sources said, Baitullah Mehsud had regained the overall command and was now trying to pacify the estranged militants.
Abdullah Mehsud was killed in a commando raid at his hideout in Zhob, Balochistan last month. He was a key militant commander from the Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan and was returning home after fighting in Afghanistan when the security agencies caught up with him in Zhob.
The sources said some groups were trying to throw a spanner in the works of a new government initiative to reach out to Baitullah Mehsud and work out a better arrangement to bring peace to the restive region.
The beheading of one of the militiamen being held hostage for over a week is being seen by government as the handiwork of those who do not wish the new overture to succeed.
