 | | Sure they do. |
MIRANSHAH: The North Waziristan chief administrator expressed hope on Tuesday that the ceasefire announced by militants in the tribal agency would become permanent, and vowed to try to solve all problems through a traditional jirga. Dr Fakhar Alam said this in a meeting with a jirga composed of around 400 tribal elders in Miranshah, the North Waziristan headquarters. The jirga was convened a day after a suicide bomber killed six security personnel at a checkpoint near the town. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Abdur Rehman repeated demands outlined by a Taliban spokesman on Sunday after announcing a month-long unilateral truce in North Waziristan. Dr Alam promised the jirga that he would examine the demands.
Rehman said that the time had come to “welcome the tribal people and address their complaints and problems. Innocent people should be released and privileges should be restored,” he said. Taliban spokesman Abdullah Farhad welcomed the chief administrator’s announcement, and said that the ceasefire was holding. He said that 18 tribal elders on the group’s hit-list had been pardoned. He also said that masked Taliban gunmen would no longer patrol the town. “If anyone sees a masked man on the street, he will not be from the Taliban,” he said. |