ISLAMABAD, April 21: Speakers at a seminar have termed the ongoing military operation in tribal areas "ill-conceived and ill-planned and called for finding a political solution to the issue.

Speaking at the seminar on "Wana operation and its aftermath", organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Wednesday, most of the participants were of the view that the operation should be stopped immediately otherwise it could spread to the settled areas.

A human rights activist and leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), Afrasiab Khattak, said Gen Musharraf lacked the will to fight terrorism and was trying to make the US and the people of Pakistan fool.

He said there was a thesis in the GHQ that the US would have to vacate Afghanistan after suffering some causalities and the country would be disintegrated. This thesis, he said, later proved wrong and military failed to get control over any part of Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan adopted a dual policy when the US troops launched operation in Tora Bora. He said Pakistan told the US that it had deployed troops in Kurram Agency while on the other hand provided a chance to Al Qaeda top leadership to escape.

He termed the operation a "disaster" and a "debacle in Wana". He said Pakistan had launched operation against terrorists only in those areas, which had been identified by the US. He claimed that Wana was still under control of Taliban leader Nek Mohammad, who had employed over 2,000 people on good salaries.

He said it was difficult to believe that the government did not have knowledge of the presence of foreigners in the tribal areas, as no individual could stay in the areas even for a single day without the knowledge of the political agents.

He said four elements in this operation - the extremists' presence in the government, political umbrella provided by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), the militant organizations, trained by the government itself and the international connections of these organizations - needed to be studied.

An expert in international relations Aimal Khan said the tribals believed that the ongoing operation was a part of foreign agenda as the government had failed to convince the local population that the operation was being carried out in the national interest.

He said the operation had also destroyed the social infrastructure in the area as troops were stationing in school and dispensary buildings. Imtiaz Gul said the fallout of such operations could be understood by the simple incident narrated by a schoolteacher about how his 10-year-old son was shot in the head for asking why his house was being held under siege.

He said the media was skeptical about the Wana operation as there were lot of contradictions in the government's claims. He said the discovery of a 1.5-kilometre long tunnel in the area was a biggest lie of the century. He said the so-called tunnels were actually 'karez', which were used as water channels.

He regretted that media persons were not being allowed to visit the area. He claimed that army and agencies people knew where Nek Mohammad was residing in tribal area.

He said every day, people saw dozens of trucks carrying troops entering the area while the ISPR chief was constantly denying reinforcement in the area. "Where are the arrested foreigners? where are their bodies? these questions are a blow to the government's credibility", he said.

The former director-general of the ISI, Lt-Gen (retired) Asad Durrani, felt that the due process of going through the jirga needed to be given more time to work to find out a peaceful solution. "The military must be the last resort in such sensitive issues", he said.