WANA, May 26: The authorities in the troubled South Waziristan region on Tuesday came out with a fresh warning to a tribal jirga for taking serious steps about the presence of foreign elements.

While the government extended the deadline for the registration of foreigners in the area for another 10 days on Monday, agency's administrator Asmatullah Gandapur categorically told the jirga of Ahmadzai Wazirs and Zalikhel Wazirs that they were not taking the issue seriously.

It is learnt that the two major clans of Wazir tribe, the Ahmadzai Wazir and Zalikhel Wazir, have been blaming each other for the failure of the lashkar to flush out the foreign elements hiding in the region.

From now on, separate lashkars would be raised by the two clans to operate independently. Moreover, separate jirgas of the two clans are scheduled for Wednesday (today) here.

While quoting the administrator, a participant of the tribal jirga held on Tuesday said: "This is an international issue and all the eyes are now set on this region. Unless you people take any serious steps in this regard, the entire country will be defamed across the world."

The administrator has asked the tribal jirga to save their area from destruction. He added that their lashkar and jirgas were not tackling the issue seriously and trying to hoodwink the administrator.

Mr Gandapur said they were willing to give further time to them after the expiry of the present 10 days period provided that they delivered anything concrete during this period.

He added that the government had given them a golden opportunity to save their region from destruction by providing time for the registration of foreigners, but the opportunity could not be availed by the tribal people.

"There is no room for excuses and lies in this issue as this is not a local trivial issue," he said. Meanwhile, Nek Muhammad, a top tribal militant, threatened that they would resist any operation against foreign elements, which would engulf the entire country.

He told Dawn that there were no foreign militant in the region. "The foreigners present here have been residing here for the last more than 22 years and they are not militants," he said.