PESHAWAR, Sept 14: Former interior minister and PPP leader Maj-Gen (retd) Naseerullah Khan Babar has called for the withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas.

He has also sought the commencement of a political process to bring the tribal regions into the political mainstream by extending the Political Parties Act there and by granting them representation in the NWFP Assembly.

“The integration has to be with the NWFP and not with Islamabad,” said Mr Babar about the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

He demanded an end to, what he called, the genocide of Pakhtuns living on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. “The genocide of the Pakhtuns must stop, whether it’s on this side of the border… or on the other side of the border in Afghanistan,” he said while talking to Dawn here.

The retired general, who raised the first helicopter squadron of the army as commanding officer in 1964 after being trained in the US, said he felt sorry that helicopters which were supposed to be used against the enemy were being used to target Pakistani tribesmen.

“I never imagined that it (the helicopter) would be used against our own people,” he said.

Mr Babar also called for the constitution of a truth and reconciliation commission which might provide a healing touch to the people who had fallen victim to wrong policies of the government. The commission, once constituted, might look into national debacles like the 1965 war, the 1971 East Pakistan debacle, the Kargil war and the military operations in the tribal regions.

The PPP leader said it was becoming unbearable that those killed in the military operations were being called terrorists and miscreants.

Mr Babar said that the tribal system would have to be resuscitated by carrying out development through tribal elders. “Let’s trust the people and pull back the army,” he remarked.

He also castigated the Pakhtun nationalist parties for ignoring the issue of the military operation and genocide of the Pakhtuns on both sides of the border.

“They are not just interested,” he maintained.