PESHAWAR, March 3: The government has proposed allowing tribal elders loyal to it to carry AK-47 rifles in Peshawar and other parts of the province for personnel safety, sources said.

The proposal was necessitated in view of incidents of target killing and growing threat to pro-government tribal elders from militants. The sources said the Fata Secretariat had forwarded the proposal to the NWFP home department.

It is learnt that the NWFP governor has agreed to issue permits to pro-government elders authorising them to possess and carry automatic assault rifles in settled areas of the province.

The political administration of the Mohmand Agency had recently requested the secretariat to allow pro-government elders to carry AK-47 rifles in Peshawar after militants attacked some elders in the violence-hit area.

The political administration, the sources said, had listed out about 15 tribal elders who, according to them, needed automatic rifles while travelling to Peshawar. They said four influential elders had been killed in the region in the recent past by militants, owing to their links with the government.

The federal government had banned issuance of licences for some arms, including AK-47 rifles, in 2002. The sources said the interior ministry had partially relaxed the ban, exempting government employees and businessmen.Under the law, they said, the home department could not issue licence for prohibited bore weapons and it could only send recommendation to the interior ministry on the matter.

Officials said over 200 tribal elders loyal to the government had been killed in the tribal region during the last three years when security forces launched an operation against militants.