PESHAWAR, Dec 28: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has sought tribesmen’s help in the arrest of Al-Qaeda members and other terrorists entering Pakistan from Afghanistan.

Speaking at tribesmen’s gatherings at several inaccessible areas deep inside Teerah Valley in the Khyber Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), on Thursday, the governor asked the tribesmen to help the government in its efforts to arrest all terrorists escaping from Afghanistan who were responsible for the destruction in much of Afghanistan.

These elements, said the governor, had no other way but to sneak into Pakistan and they would try to cross over to this side of the border through tribal areas of Pakistan. The governor expressed the hope that the tribesmen would cooperate with the government in nabbing the terrorists fleeing from Afghanistan.

Pressing hard the tribesmen, the governor said that national interest warranted that the government should be helped in arresting the Al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists to help the country avoid devastation and destruction.

“All those assisting terrorists to enter Pakistan cannot be sincere to Pakistan,” the governor said.

In a rare visit to the inaccessible Teera Valley by any of the provincial governors — first in the last 104 years — the NWFP governor addressed tribesmen’s gatherings at Jaroli, Zakhakhel, Tarkhokus and Surra Waila Zakhakhel.

In his efforts to make the tribesmen cooperate with the government in its fight against terrorism, the governor told them that anybody extending cooperation to the fleeing Al-Qaeda terrorists would not be considered patriotic and action would be taken against them.