KOHAT, March 23: Parliamentarians belonging to Jamaat-i-Islami have accused the government of covering up civilian deaths in South Waziristan at the hands of the army, demanding that the party be allowed to enter the tribal areas.

MNA Haroonur Rashid and provincial deputy secretary-general Zar Noor Afridi told journalists here on Sunday that authorities had stopped their party activists from entering North Waziristan Agency in connection with preparations for the grand meeting of the tribal leaders to be held in Peshawar on April 3-4.

They said that by attacking unarmed civilians, including women and children in Wana, the military had violated its ideological mandate. Accusing the government of having trespassed the tribesmen's constitutional rights, they said that there was no moral justification for attacking property and lives of civilians.

They warned the government of serious consequences of atrocities being committed in the tribal areas, saying they had informed the party's high command about the incident and the matter would be taken up by Senator Prof Ibraheem and other party leaders in the senate and the National Assembly.