PESHAWAR, Oct 6: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said that if security forces are not ensured safe passage through the Tank-Jandola Road, the government may open the Tank-Gomal Road and impose an economic blockade on the concerned tribes.

Speaking at a meeting held with Fata parliamentarians here on Tuesday evening, the governor said the Tank-Jandola Road was being used by security forces for logistics and added that under the law protection of roads was the collective responsibility of the tribes concerned.

The meeting was attended by Senators Mateen Shah, Hafiz Abdul Malik, Hamidullah Jan Afridi, Tahir Iqbal and Engineer Rashid Ahmad, and MNAs Maulana Mohammad Sadiq, Maulana Abdul Malik, Sahibzada Haroon Rashid, Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, Dr Javed Hussain, Munir Khan Orakzai and Maulana Noorul Haq Qadri.

It was a follow-up to an earlier meeting convened by the special committee comprising the governor and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao in Islamabad on Sept 22 to seek a peaceful settlement of the Wana issue in consultation with the Fata parliamentarians.

The meeting had decided that a delegation of elected representatives from Fata would visit the South Waziristan Agency in a couple of days to hold talks with the tribes concerned.

MNA from South Waziristan Maulana Abdul Malik, who had visited the areas after the Islamabad meeting, informed the meeting on Tuesday about the progress made in this regard.

The governor was hopeful that efforts by the Fata parliamentarians would take the negotiation process forward. He recalled that almost 95 per cent of Ahmadzai Wazirs had renewed their pledge to protect their respective areas and hand over the wanted individuals to the government under various agreements reached last month.

He asked the parliamentarians to also pay attention to the situation in the Mehsud area and try to resolve the issue. The governor assured the delegation that the government would honour its commitments about the release of innocent tribesmen and payment of compensation to the heirs of innocent people who had lost their lives in the crossfire.