May 05, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1429

PESHAWAR, May 4: Corps Commander Lt-Gen Mohammad Masood Aslam said on Sunday that the army would stay in tribal areas as long as the government wants it to be there and the law and order situation does not show signs of improvement.

Talking to reporters at the PAF golf course, he said tribal people were a peace-loving community and had supported the measures taken for development of their area which had helped lessen the influence of militants in the area.

He said that troops would stay in the troubled parts of Fata till the militancy was brought under control and the general public felt secure. By and large, he added, it depended on the government’s decision as to how long they should remain deployed there.

The Peshawar corps commander expressed the hope that after the development projects lunched in tribal areas and the environment created by the Pakistan Army, peace would eventually be restored in Fata.