MINGORA, March 5: Helicopter gunships pounded hideouts of militants loyal to Maulana Fazlullah and a sabotage attempt was averted when a remote-control bomb planted on a road was defused in the Matta tehsil’s Peuchar area on Wednesday.

Security forces continued a search operation on Wednesday and the helicopter gunships pounded positions of miscreants in the troubled Peuchar area.

However, no casualty was reported.

Meanwhile, the Swat national jirga for peace held intelligence agencies and Maulana Fazlullah responsible for the law and order situation in the valley and vowed to launch a movement against the government.

Speaking at a press conference at the Mingora Press Club, the jirga members, including Mukhtyar Yousafzai, Sher Shah Khan, Khursheed Kakaji, Alhaj zahid Khan, Fazal Maullah Khan and Adalat Khan, dubbed Maulana Fazlullah as a criminal and a “tool in the hands of spying agencies”. They said Fazlullah should stop playing with the lives of innocent people of Swat.

They accused the spying agencies of pitting Maulana Fazlullah for shedding the blood of the peace-loving people in the region.

They vowed to resist forces responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the region.

“The government is patronising militants in the area for their vested interests,” they said. However, they added, such attempts would be foiled.

They also rejected government-sponsored jirgas held in Swat. “The people of Swat are not afraid of any forces, whether they are militants or spying agencies’ personnel. The people will themselves check their activities from now on,” the jirga members said.

They said if the government was sincere in quelling militancy, they should target militants, instead of innocent civilians.

They urged the government to compensate families of innocent people killed and injured during the operation, suicide attacks and bombings in Swat.

They demanded Rs500,000 for the family of each deceased and Rs300,000 for each injured person, otherwise they threatened to launch a protest demonstration.