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| India-Pakistan |
| Foreigners offered amnesty |
| 2007-03-24 |
| NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzai said on Friday that foreign militants battling tribesmen in South Waziristan could still avail an amnesty offer if they surrendered to the authorities. Orakzai said clashes between foreign militants and local Taliban groups were spreading to other parts of South Waziristan, and fighting over four days had already killed 130 foreigners and 30 locals. “Around 130 foreigners were killed and 62 captured, and the clashes are now spreading to other areas,” he told reporters at Governor’s House. The governor denied the government was helping tribesmen eliminate foreigners from the area, as accused by a Taliban commander. “Do not become a party to the conflict, otherwise we will sign out from the peace agreement we reached with the government (in November 2004),” Haji Omar, senior Taliban commander in South Waziristan, told a BBC correspondent by satellite phone. He denied the government’s death toll for foreign militants. Orakzai said there could be around 500 foreign militants still hiding in the area. Asked if the ceasefire brokered on Thursday was holding, the governor did not give a direct reply. “The situation is volatile ... it is sill not clear,” he said. A tribal journalist in Wana told Daily Times by satellite phone that the ceasefire was intact. However, an ambush on a car carrying some Uzbek militants was reported from Speenkai Raghzai, but it could not be confirmed officially. Two Uzbeks were reported killed in the attack, indicating that the clashes were spreading from Waziristan. “The people of Waziristan have risen against foreigners on their own,” said the governor. “They have realised that the foreigners’ presence is troubling the local population. They were asked by the tribal people to leave, but they started fighting.” The fighting started on March 19 after pro-government Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir took up arms against the foreigners, mainly followers of Uzbek militant Tahir Yuldashev. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Either that, or they can kidnap an Italian "journalist"... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-24 09:54 |