KOHAT, Aug 7: A 10-member peace committee will meet NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti in a couple of days to get his consent on the document prepared by the Hangu jirga to set limits and rules for militants and security forces and resolve the hostages’ issue.

Officials said no breakthrough was expected before Aug 14, but efforts would be made by all stakeholders to resolve the issues before the start of Ramazan.

In this regard, separate meetings had been planned in Hangu and Kohat districts with sectarian groups to form peace committees of 20 members from each side and bound them to keep peace in their respective areas. A committee headed by MPA Mufti Sayed Janan has also sought time from the chief minister after conveying him details of the draft agreement through a government official.

The talks have entered a final and very complicated stage where the government may make some sort of arrangement with the Taliban because being the citizens of the country they cannot be expelled from the region. But under the agreement their activities would be guided by certain rules and laws prepared by the tribal elders and they would be allowed to stay in the tribal region. The militants would not be allowed to enter settled areas. However, it is a difficult task because now many Taliban groups have sprung up with different ideologies and missions. But, an official said, the matter could be resolved easily if the intelligence agencies, who according to him knew everything about the groups, exposed them to law-enforcement agencies.

District Nazim Kohat Gohar Saifullah Khan told Dawn on Thursday that he had been asked by Kohat’s Regional Coordination Officer Omer Afridi to hold meetings with the elders and explain to them about confidence-building measures required for permanent peace. The elders should be told that the present situation had been created by a handful of criminals and that their activities could be controlled if the people came out to help the administration.

The nazim said if a man from one sect was killed due to enmity by his own cousins even then his sect suspected the involvement of the rival sect in the murder and thus the misunderstandings increased and resulted in unending armed clashes.