PESHAWAR, March 10: Zalikhel tribesmen in South Waziristan bowed down before threats of an impending action on Wednesday, and agreed to launch their own lashkar to get fellow clansmen suspected of harbouring and facilitating foreign militants.

Elders from Zalikhel tribe, the largest amongst the main Ahmadzai Wazir tribe inhibiting South Waziristan, met the deputy administrator of South Waziristan, Rehmatullah Wazir, and conveyed to him their willingness to launch a lashkar (a force of tribal volunteers), to track down and surrender five fellow clansmen suspected of sheltering and supporting foreign militants.

"I made it clear to them that if they don't do the job for us we are going to do it by ourselves. I told them to give us a clear answer and they said 'yes'," Mr Wazir said on phone from regional headquarters in Wana.

He said Sheikh Bazid, Utmankhel and Kakakhel - the three sub-tribes of Zalikhels - have contributed about 600 armed volunteers to carry out the job. The tribal volunteers would now meet at Azam Warsak on Thursday and begin their search for the suspects, he said.

As per tradition, each sub-tribe would choose their own commander who in turn would nominate a 'general' to spearhead the campaign. The 'general' would send a message to the suspects to give themselves to the jirga or face action.

Zalikhels, to which the five suspects - Haji Sharif, Maulvi Nek Mohammad, Maulvi Abbas, Noor Islam and Maulvi Aziz - belong, have so far been dragging their feet on confronting their own clansmen who command considerable support and sympathy among their people for their past support to jihad in Afghanistan. "This is not a matter of months or weeks. We have asked the tribe to deliver the men in matter of days," Mr Wazir said.