May 17, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1429

TANK, May 16: The government has withdrawn security personnel from three strategic positions in the Mehsud area, meeting a key demand of the militants in South Waziristan for a peace agreement in the region.

Local people said the army removed barbed wires and mines before pulling out of Chag Malai, Spinkay Raghzay and Kotkai areas.

But a government official said the military was being relocated to positions from where it would be easy for them to re-occupy the vacated positions within four hours of any incident.

The troop withdrawal was a key commitment made by the government for reaching peace agreement with militants and came after the two sides had exchanged prisoners over the past three days.

Military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas, however, said that the troops were not being withdrawn but being relocated and readjusted to allow displaced people to return to their homes.

The government official said that things were moving in the right direction and hoped that peace in South Waziristan would have a salutary effect on the overall situation not only in other tribal regions but also in the settled districts of the NWFP and other parts of the country.

“We are following a considered strategy and it is producing results. It’s working,” the official said, requesting not to be named.

He, however, said that some key policy decisions were to be taken by the federal government but regretted that there appeared to be no urgency in taking critical decisions with regard to the proposed peace agreements.