July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

TIMERGARA, July 28: Mili-tary authorities have assured a peace jirga of Maidan that no operation will be conducted if smooth law and order prevailed in the area, official sources told Dawn on Monday.

Brig Rehan Saddique, local commander of the army troops, had convened the jirga at the Dir Scouts headquarters at Balambat on Monday to review the law and order situation in Lower Dir and Swat districts and the Bajaur tribal region, and to prepare a joint strategy to curb militancy.

Besides military officials, the meeting was attended by District Nazim Ahmad Hassan Khan, District Police Officer Sayed Fida Hassan, Timergara Tehsil Nazim Mohammad Umar, Naib Nazim Mehboob Shah, district PML-N president Mohammad Rashid, nazims, councillors and elders of the Maidan area, sources privy to the meeting said.

Addressing the jirga, Brig Rehan said the army was there to provide security to the people of the area and its stay was not aimed at conducting military operation in Lower Dir. He told the participants that the situation in Swat and Bajaur had again become tense and there was a possibility that militants could also disturb the peaceful environment in this district.

He maintained that the army would try to avoid any kind of military operation in the area, however if the situation worsened then the army would have no option but to conduct operation.

He appealed to people to cooperate with law-enforcement agencies, saying the administration and the local government should devise a joint strategy to counter terrorism.

The district nazim and other participants told the military authorities that the residents of Dir were peace-loving people and did not want any unrest in the area. They said there had been no Taliban, but some criminals had been disturbing peace in the area. The jirga members assured its full cooperation to the authorities and pledged to work for maintaining law and order in the district.

UPLIFT SCHEMES: MMA’s former MPA Muzaffar Sayed has urged the NWFP government to announce new development schemes, instead of inaugurating projects of the MMA government.

Talking to journalists here on Monday, he claimed that provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah had done nothing to improve health facilities in Lower Dir and had only announced schemes already completed during the MMA government.

However, he welcomed the health minister’s announcement that a medical college would be established in the district by next year to help the local youth to get standard medical education at their doorsteps.