The government on Monday freed more than a 100 arrested tribesmen and opened the main highway to meet some of the demands made by the Taliban for the release of around 200 kidnapped soldiers in South Waziristan, but the soldiers have not yet been freed, officials said. | ... to meet some of the demands made by the Taliban for the release of around 200 kidnapped soldiers in South Waziristan, but the soldiers have not yet been freed, officials said |
In Mohmand Agency, a government deadline for the release of 10 paramilitary soldiers held hostage by the militants passed without any significant response from the captors and a tribal jirga was still negotiating their safe return, Mohmand Agency Chief Administrator Dr Kazim Niaz told a news briefing in Ghalanai. “We have no details whether the jirga has persuaded the Taliban militants to release the soldiers or not,” a senior government official in Wana told Daily Times asking not to be named.
Military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said there was no progress yet, but hoped that the Mehsud jirga would help secure the safe return of the soldiers who went missing on August 30. Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.
| A source told Daily Times that Baitullah had warned that he would behead five soldiers every day if his demands were not met. |
The official in Wana said the release of the arrested tribesmen and opening of the highway had stopped Baitullah from carrying out the executions for the time being. Dr Kazim Niaz told journalists in Ghalanai that the government would take action if the tribal jirga failed to secure the release of the 10 paramilitary soldiers. Tribal sources said the Mohmand grand jirga experienced an internal rift with accusations against the Saafi tribe of “non-cooperation”.
Online adds: Mehsud has put forward four conditions for the release of the abducted security officials, Senator Saleh Shah told a TV channel. He said the condition are the release of 15 to 18 Mehsud people arrested by the security officials; ban on any military convoy movement on the Jandola-Wana road until an atmosphere of confidence is restored; the withdrawal of the army from Mehsud tribe area and the release of 300 men, women and children arrested by the army; and that there will be no future disturbance of Mahsud tribe areas.
Shah said the political administration and security officials had agreed that the arrested people of the Mehsud tribe would be released. The rest of the conditions will be considered after discussions with high officials, he said.