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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan may ink another peace deal with militants |
| 2006-10-24 |
| PESHAWAR: Maulana Faqir Mohamed, once most wanted cleric in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal region, and his fellow militants are likely to ink peace accord with the government after Eid al-Fitr, as the government has released all his relatives as a goodwill gesture. On the forth day of Eid al-Fitr, both sides would sign peace agreement. Maulana Faqir Mohamed's brother, Maulana Gul Mohamed and two other important religious figures, Dr Ismail and Maulana Inayatur Rahman, were also among the released tribesmen. The Pakistani security forces, in a raid on the house of Maulana Faqir Mohamed in Chopatra villages of Bajuar Agency, had arrested Maulana Gul Mohamed and an Uzbek national Huzaifa a day after the dramatic arrest of alleged Al Qaeda operative Abu Faraj al-Libbi in Mardan on May 2. Besides Faqir Mohamed's brother, those released were identified as Bahadur Khan, Habibullah, Bashirullah, Ziaul Haq, Jamal Syed, Nazimeen Khan and as mentioned the two clerics - Dr Ismail and Maulana Inayatur Rahman. Maulana Faqir Mohamed's supporters warmly received their released colleagues and celebrated their release with heavy firing into the air. Members of the tribal 'jirga' (council) took them to the village after their release from central prison in Khar, headquarters of Bajaur Agency. Two of them, Dr Ismail and Maulana Inayatur Rahman, were detained in Peshawar and were thoroughly interrogated. Another tribal cleric, Maulana Jan Mohamed, 35, son of an aged Maulana Mohamed Amin, whose house was burnt by a tribal 'jirga' last year, had already died in custody of the law enforcement agencies allegedly due to extreme torture on him. A 'jirga' comprising local tribal elders had started peace negotiations between the government and tribal clerics a few months ago and on one occasion the 'jirga' members met with sort of embarrassment when the tribal clerics assured them of their full support for resolving the longstanding issue, but the government then gave a very cold response. However, according to sources, Governor of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Ali Mohamed Jan Orakzai has now given a green a signal to the tribal 'jirga' members that helped end the long deadlock in negotiations. The 'jirga' members restarted their peace talks with tribal clerics' leaders - Maulana Faqir Mohamed and his deputy Maulana Liaqat in Damadola. One of the prominent tribal elders, Malik Abdul Aziz, while talking on phone from his hometown in Bajaur said all arrangements had been finalised for peace deal scheduled on fourth day of the Eid. He said there would be a big meeting of tribal 'jirga' on that occasion where all tribal clerics, elders and government representatives would be present. Under the deal, Malik Abdul Aziz explained, nobody would be allowed to provide shelter to any foreign national on Bajaur soil. And if someone violated the peace agreement, the elder said, a strict action would be taken against him according to local customs and traditions. He said he held a detailed meeting with Maulana Faqir Mohamed when he took the released people to his village and the Maulana was quite happy with peace initiative. "We can't even think of creating law and order situation on our soil. We are peace-loving people and are more loyal to this land than others," said Malik Abdul Aziz while quoting the Maulana as saying. The elder said, on the demand of tribal 'jirga', the government agreed to release all the prisoners who were kept in custody for more than 15 months and nothing was found against them during this long period of interrogation. "Since we realised the conspiracies being hatched by our common enemy, therefore, we would never like to allow Bajaur to become a battlefield for their vested interests," remarked Malik Abdul Aziz. Maulana Faqir Mohamed was accused by the US secret service, CIA, of hosting a dinner at his Damadola village in Bajaur Agency on January 13 for Al Qaeda's deputy leader and Osama bin Laden's right-hand man Dr al-Zawahiri and other foreign militants. However, the Maulana later rejected all the CIA claims, terming them baseless and fabricated allegations against him to justify the killing of innocent civilians. The home of his cousins in the nearby Seway village was also raided, and three of them, namely Maulana Jan Mohamed, Maulana Bashir Mohamed and Maulana Nazir Mohamed were held. |
| Posted by:john |
| #4 Isn't this a little like the U.S. reaching a peace deal with Illinois? |
| Posted by: Glealing Glinemp9117 2006-10-24 22:52 |
| #3 One of his several fathers-in-law, as I recall, .com. Plus his extended family and dearest friends in the village. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-10-24 19:52 |
| #2 Just grant them complete and total independence, and withdraw Pakistani troops and government from their region. We'll do the rest. |
| Posted by: Oldspook 2006-10-24 18:01 |
| #1 Oh good! A matched set! Will this cover the South Wazoo? The last 4-5 sentences are precious. IIRC, wasn't some Zawahiri realitve, a son or something, killed? So yeah, sure thing, it was all baseless lies by the evil 'Merikkkans cuz Zawa wuz late and didn't get boomed, too. Jirga Logic. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-24 18:00 |