Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman convinced militants operating in the North Waziristan to unilaterally announce a ceasefire last month, sources said. Mr Rehman played the role of mediator between the government and Taliban militants on the request of NWFP Governor Lt General (r) Ali Jan Orakzai, the sources said. The request was made at a meeting at GovernorÂ’s House in Peshawar a few days before the militants announced the ceasefire on June 25, the sources said.During their meeting, Mr Orakzai told Mr Rehman that if the militants gave the assurance that they would not create any trouble in the area, the government would not pursue military action against them, the sources said. The governor also told Mr Rehman that he (the governor) had the power to make any decision which would lead to peace in the tribal areas, the sources said. Mr Orakzai said that he had been given this power after a meeting with the president following his assumption of the office of NWFP governor.
After the meeting, Mr Rehman asked Maulana Naik Zaman, an MNA from North Waziristan, to arrange a meeting with the leaders of the militants. The meeting was arranged and after six hours of talks, the militants gave Mr Rehman a charter of demands and promised a one-month ceasefire if the government accepted them. Mr Orakzai was made NWFP governor with a mandate to bring peace to the tribal areas through political means. The federal government has allocated a record amount in the budget for the development of the tribal areas, but it needs some semblance of law and order there to carry out its development agenda.