Tribal clerics were negotiating with former Guantanamo Bay inmate Abdullah Mehsud and his fellow militant Baitullah Mehsud for their surrender on Monday amid growing hopes for an early settlement, a government official told Daily Times here. The same clerics met the Peshawar corps commander, Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain, on January 11 to get an extension to a deadline for the surrender of Abdullah Mehsud. The general agreed to extension in the January 15 deadline to January 26. "Baitullah is expected to surrender to the political administration of South Waziristan before or just after the Eid," the official said on condition of anonymity. Gen Hussain had said Baitullah would be pardoned if he laid down his arms and surrendered to the government, but the same offer is not open to Abdullah. Abdullah was asked to "surrender to the law", meaning he would be tried in court for kidnapping two Chinese engineers in October. One of the hostages died during the rescue operation by army commandos. The official declined to give details of the negotiations between the clerics and the two Mehsud militants, but said the clerics were trying to persuade the militants to give up armed struggle and "live peacefully".