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PESHAWAR, Dec 20: Tribesmen from Mohmand Agency have urged the government to immediately end the ongoing military operation in their area. They made it clear they had no plan to form lashkar against Taliban and wanted all issues to be resolved through dialogue.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the elders including Syed Ahmad, Abdul Khaliq, Malik Zardar and Malik Kher Rehman said the tribal jirga was the only way to restore peace in the region. They alleged that most of the problems had been created by the security forces, which had made lives of the locals miserable.
The notables, who belonged to the Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency, said the government on one hand had asked the residents to leave the tehsil so that military operation could be launched against militants, but on the other all the routes had been blocked and no one was allowed to shift to safer areas.
The tribal people demanded of the government to send back the internally displaced people of the agency and compensate them so that they could rebuild their houses or provide them residential facilities in some other settled areas.
In the past, they said, the tribesmen had played pivotal role in resolving such issues even in the Pak-Afghan relations, but the government did not take them into confidence while launching military operation in Mohmand Agency.
They said all the developmental works had been stopped and educational institutions closed in Mohmand.
The tribesmen demanded of the government to allocate sufficient funds for initiating developmental schemes pertaining to education, health, sanitation, and drinking water.
DEADLINE EXTENDED: The government has extended the deadline to the tribesmen of Mohmand Agency and Michini for handing over of wanted Taliban to the local administrations.
It is to be recalled that a meeting of the Mohmand tribesmen and elders from 25 disputed villages of Michini was held at the Commissioner House Peshawar on Dec 4 wherein the Commissioner Shah Rukh Arbab had fixed Dec 20 as the deadline for surrender of the militants. The administration had provided a list of one hundred wanted Taliban. But the elders have expressed their inability to do so fearing militants’ wrath.
A high ranking official pleading anonymity told Dawn on Saturday that the deadline was extended at a meeting of the officials from Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mohmand Agency held at the Commissioner office on Dec 19, to review the law and order situation in the restive Mohmand and Michini regions.
The official said though some of the militants had been handed over to the political administrations of the respective areas but they didn’t include the ones who were the actual troublemakers.
