| It's not like they expected any, is it? |
Government officials and tribesmen sheltering foreigners were trying to hammer out differences on Friday just hours before a midnight deadline approached for the foreign militants to surrender or register. Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, Peshawar corps commander, on Friday rushed to Wana to save weeklong talks from failure. âIt is the same old story â I mean there has been no progress so far,â a senior government official told Daily Times by phone from Wana. Sources in Wana said a military helicopter brought Gen Hussain to join Kohat General Officer Commanding Maj-Gen Niaz Khattak in talks with two FATA parliamentarians â Maulana Abdul Malik and Maulana Muhammad Mirajuddin â and former Taliban commander Nek Muhammad, who surrendered to the government on April 24.
Nek, who was given amnesty after he surrendered and has since been negotiating a deal for the surrender of foreign terrorists, had sought an extension in the already extended deadline. Nek told reporters in Wana that âminor differencesâ were blocking the final agreement on foreignersâ registration but he would not elaborate. âExpiry of the deadline does not mean we will launch an operation the next morning,â Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told Daily Times. He did not comment on whether the deadline would be extended. But Nek said that such negotiations needed time and the military should extend the deadline. An unconfirmed report from Wana said the political administration had assured Nek of an extension in the deadline. An aide to Nek told Daily Times that foreign militants linked to Al Qaeda and Taliban were reluctant to be photographed. âThat is what the foreign militants said when Nek and the two tribal parliamentarians met them,â he said and asked not to be named. Nek said that he had committed himself to an agreement with the government that Pakistani soil would not be used for attacks in Afghanistan. |