PESHAWAR, June 16: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has asked the federal government to allow opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman to attend a jirga to be organized in the troubled South Waziristan.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, MMA spokesman Mufti Kafayettulah said that the government could not justify military action in the South Waziristan region after it announced clemency for the wanted tribesmen.

He said the government used excessive force against innocent people to please the US. He refuted the government claim that foreign militants had been killed or arrested in the fresh operation.

He said that the government was misguiding the people and not a single foreigner had been killed in the operation. He added that before the operation the US troops intruded into Pakistani territory to pressure the government to restart the military action in the region that hugs the Afghan border.

He demanded that the government halt military operation in South Waziristan and allow Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other politicians to attend a jirga in Wana. The Mufti said that the so-called commander Nek Mohammad was the agent of the government who had been assigned the task of creating lawlessness in the area.

He said the MMA would take up the issue of Wana operation in the National Assembly instead of taking people to the streets.