PESHAWAR, Sept 4: The treasury and opposition MPAs on Thursday denounced what they called a joint military operation by Pakistan and the US in Bannu district and the adjoining tribal areas in the name of a hunt for Al Qaeda fugitives.

As the NWFP assembly session presided over by Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan went ahead with the proceedings, Maulana Abdur Razzaq of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) from Bannu drew the attention of the House towards the deployment of troops at the Bannu airport.

He told the House that 25 military chopper landed at the airport on Wednesday.

The MPA claimed that the district administration was ignorant about the troops concentration in the city. The military authorities had not informed the NWFP government about the would-be operation, he added.

Hamid Shah from Bannu also condemned the troops’ deployment in the district, which was a settled area, without taking the provincial government into confidence. Mr Shah said he would bring an adjournment motion on the issue in the House.

He said the presence of US forces in the province was a glare violation of the provincial autonomy. “It shows who is running the affairs. The military rulers have been following the dictates of the US after the 9/11 incident. It is a disgrace of our people to put them at the mercy of the US forces,” he stated.

Abdul Majid Khan of Swabi termed the troops deployment trespassing on the provincial autonomy. He said the US forces wanted to subjugate the courageous tribesmen living in the tribal agencies.

The presence of the US troops was against the people’s will and solidarity of Pakistan, he said and urged that the government should refrain from launching the operation contrary to the wishes of the people.

Maulana Mujahid al-Hussaini from Nowshera urged the lawmakers to take a united stand against what he called enslavement of the rulers at the hands of the US imperialism. He said the MPAs should oppose the presence of the US soldiers in the region if they loved freedom.

Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML-N criticized the federal government for launching a covert operation against the courageous Pukhtuns, on the pretext of Al Qaeda fugitives, in the tribal belt.

In the past, he said, the US occupation forces had killed Pukhtuns naming them Taliban and Al Qaeda activists and forced them to leave their homes. After the 9/11 incident, they butchered Pukhtuns in Afghanistan and then occupied Iraq to defeat the so-called terrorists, he added.

He said that now the military generals were paving the way for the US to launch an operation against the Afghans from the Pakistan soil, but the brave people of Pakistan would not allow the generals to do so. He said the US could not protect the power of usurpers for a long time.

“If the faith in Islam and loyalty to the motherland is equal to terrorism, the Pukhtuns are not different from the Al Qaeda members and Taliban,” he said.

He warned that if the US operation was not opposed, the people from Tirah, Chitral and Dir would have to face a same action in future. It was the duty of every human being to oppose this covert operation, he said.

Yasmin Khan of the MMA termed the would-be military operation an attack on the provincial autonomy and solidarity of Pakistan.

Israrullah Khan Gandapur of the PPP-S warned that the operation against tribesmen would lead the country to an unending crisis.

Later, Wajihuzzaman of the PML-Q drew the attention of the House towards the sale of the stolen timber by a group and backed by the forest department in Mansehra range.

Senior Minister Sirajul Haq assured Mr Zaman that he would not allow anybody to cut down trees illegally.

The lawmakers also resumed discussion on non-implementation of the recommendations of the parliamentary committees and urged the government to advise the department concerned to implement them.

Winding up the debate, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Malik Zafar Azam assured the House that the government was bound to act upon the recommendations. But at the same time he opposed a report tabled by Deputy Speaker Ikramullah Shahid on the local government ordinance and a bill in the House.

The speaker adjourned the House amid an uproar by the opposition, advising them to table their bill on Friday.