| The tribal elders of Bajaur Agency on Thursday categorically told the visiting national and foreign media teams that there are no terrorists in Bajaur and the tribal elders are fully honouring the peace pact. Tribal elders - Malik Mian Masud, Malik Muhammad Yunas and Malik Hafzoor Jan - belonging to the Tarkhani and Utmankhel tribes told the visiting journalists at Bajaur Agency's Khar headquarters that there were no militants in Bajaur and denounced the Western propaganda to that effect. The tribesmen appealed to the foreign journalists to give up negative propaganda against their region because the people of Bajaur were peaceful and were opposed to harbouring any militant on their soil. The peace pact, they said, helped restore peace and harmony in the tribal region to a great extent and vowed to stand by the government on the peace agreement. The tribal elders informed the journalists about the negative impact the drone attacks had had on the peace efforts in the region and said the attacks were fuelling hatred amongst the tribal people against the US. They demanded foreign financial aid for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons and the reconstruction of Bajaur. The use of force in tribal agencies, they said, would create further problems and added that the tribal people believed in resolving disputes through negotiations. |