September 04, 2007	Tuesday	Sha'aban 21, 1428

GHALLANAI (Mohmand Agency), Sept 3: The tribal administration on Monday delayed its planned action against militants as two jirgas tried to secure release of 10 militiamen of the Mohmand Rifles.

The administration had set Monday noon as deadline for the release of Mohmand Rifles’ personnel, who were kidnapped on Saturday night from the Kandharo area, about 30kms north-west of here, near the Bajaur Agency’s border.

“The (tribal) administration will honour traditions. It will not take any action till the jirgas are engaged in talks to settle the issue,” Dr Kazim Niaz, political agent of the agency, said.

The administration said it was considering various options for the recovery of the personnel if the jirgas did not succeed.

A jirga of the Safi tribe and another comprising clerics are negotiating with militants led by a man called Abdul Wali Raghib. The man had earlier identified himself as Umer Khalid after his militants had taken control of a mosque and a seminary complex in Kandharo and named it Lal Masjid.

The militants have not yet made any demand for the release of the kidnapped soldiers.

The clerics’ jirga, led by MNA Maulana Ghulam Sadiq, comprises Maulvi Abdul Jabbar and Maulana Shehzad Gul.