PESHAWAR, Aug 25: Militants in the North Waziristan have extended the ceasefire by another 15 days as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman has joined efforts to help clear some obstacles to an agreement for restoring peace in the restive tribal region.

“We are almost there. Everything has been decided. The story is almost finished but the government is a bit slow in responding to certain things,” Abdullah Farhad, militants’ chief spokesman in the troubled region told Dawn on phone from an undisclosed location.

“We are satisfied with our talks so far but the government is a bit slow and we feel that if it wants then the whole matter (of the agreement) can be wrapped up very soon,” Mr Farhad said.

Insiders said that two of the three issues that bedevilled the peace agreement had been taken care of. They are: release of about a dozen militants and return of the seized weaponry.

The sources said that the government had agreed to release 10 more militants, a fact also acknowledged by Mr Farhad. He said that the government had agreed to release their men on Saturday.

However, the main issue that remained to be worked out was withdrawal of military from the North Waziristan Agency, one of the key militants’ demands.

Mr Farhad said that an inter-tribal jirga formed by the government to negotiate peace with militants met their Shura (council) in Khate Kallay near Miramshah, the regional headquarters of North Waziristan, on Friday.

He said the jirga had assured them that the government was thinking positively on the issue of withdrawal from the tribal region.

“We have been assured that the government, as well as the military, is thinking positively on the issue and we are satisfied with the talks. The whole issue can be resolved as soon as possible but we don’t know why the government is taking time,” the spokesman said.

Insiders said the JUI-F leader, whose party was playing a key role in helping the government resolve the bloody conflict, dashed to the southern district of Bannu on Thursday for an overnight stay to meet militant leaders the following day.

They said that Maulana Fazl stayed at the residence of Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and met militant leaders for nearly four hours to resolve the seemingly last unresolved issue.

Militants on their part have been demanding total with drawal of troops from the tribal region, or at least their restriction to the two main forts in Miramshah and Mirali, a sub-division of the North Waziristan Agency.

Militants demand a clear timeframe and wanted troops to begin withdrawing as of August 25, the day their unilaterally extended one month ceasefire was to expire.

Sources in the tribal region said that militants were willing to grant one month to the army to begin withdrawing from the region but the Maulana, who apparently has been briefed on the government’s standing on the issue, has told militant leaders it was not possible.

Maulana Sadiq Noor, Maulana Abdul Khaliq, Hafiz Gul Bahadar and member of the National Assembly from North Waziristan Maulana Nek Zaman were among those who met with the JUI-F leader on Saturday.

Maulana Fazl had to rush to Islamabad for some important engagement, apparently due to the opposition’s move to unseat Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

But ISPR spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said that it was for the government to decide when the army was to be moved out and for that certain demands would have to be met by militants.

Referring to a speech by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the spokesman said that militancy would have to be ended and assurances would have to be given by the tribal people that Pakistan’s soil would not be used against any country.

Gen Sultan said that NWFP Governor Mohammad Ali Jan Aurakzi was the focal person who had initiated the entire process to resolve the issue through dialogue and that he would revert to the government with his recommendations for any decision once all the conditions had been met.

“President Musharraf has given a baseline and those conditions will have to be met before the government takes any decision.”