TIMERGARA: The NWFP government and the defunct Tehrik-Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi on Friday agreed to resume talks for removing bottlenecks in enforcement of the Swat peace deal.

A government team, led by Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, met a TNSM delegation in a rest house.

The TNSM chief, Maulana Sufi Mohammad, his deputy Maulana Mohammad Alam, spokesman Ameer Izzat Khan and Iqbal Khan represented the TNSM and Mian Iftikhar Hussain and central information secretary of the ANP, Senator Zahid Khan, represented the provincial government.The talks lasted about 40 minutes. 

Speaking at a press conference, Mr Hussain said the talks were fruitful and held in a pleasant atmosphere.

Terming it the first round of the talks, he announced final decisions would be taken in the second round, which would be held soon. 

He said the government had already announced setting up of a Darul Qaza in Malakand. He said the government wanted to end violence and restore lasting peace in the region.

In reply to a question about the military operation in Buner, the minister said the government was talking about the entire Malakand division. ‘It is our land. We will live here and will not leave it,’ he said.

TNSM’s spokesman Ameer Izzat Khan said ‘we have agreed to make joint efforts for the enforcement of Sharia and restoration of peace’.

He said the TNSM, after holding its Shura meeting, would hold fresh talks with the government. Maulana Sufi Mohammad told journalists that he believed in fruitful talks.

He appealed to the security forces and the Taliban to stop their activities until the talks ended. 

After the talks, the government team was taken to a helipad at Balambat, from where they flew to Peshawar. The TNSM chief and his aides left Timergara for Amandara.

BOMB EXPLOSION
A vehicle of security forces was hit by a remote control bomb planted near a bridge at Hayaserai area of Maidan on Friday. However, the personnel remained unhurt. Sources said the bomb exploded minutes after the vehicle had passed the scene.

Security forces conducted a search operation in the Timergara DHQ hospital amid reports that some injured militants had been admitted to the hospital. The sources said troops took three injured suspects into custody and shifted them to an undisclosed location.

Later the security forces released Fazal Rashad alias Pukhtun Qasab, a resident of Talash, who had been injured on Thursday after a domestic dispute.

A local Taliban commander Ghulam Khan was killed and three other militants injured when security forces pounded militants’ hideouts in Bandai Maidan. Several mortar shells hit houses in the area of Darmal and Barkhanay Maidan. 

CONTROL OF ROAD
The Taliban maintained their hold on the Chakdara-Timergara section of the G.T. road at Gulabad in Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir.

They searched vehicles for more than two hours but left the area after 1pm. Meanwhile, the Adenzai Qaumi jirga held an urgent meeting at Chakdara with Humayun Khan in the chair.

Rahimullah, Sultanat Yar and Madad Khan of the JI, Maulana Gul Rahim of the JUI-F, Bakhtiar Khan and advocate Gul Mohammad attended the meeting. 

The jirga called upon the government and security forces to avoid any kind of military operation in Chakdara. It appealed to both the security forces and Taliban not to carry out their activities in the area.
 
The jirga said the government’s response towards public concerns was much disappointing. It also condemned shelling of gunship helicopters in Gulabad in which two children had been injured.

The jirga decided to talk to both the local Taliban and security officials asking them not to target civilian population in Adenzai.