Tribal parliamentarians boycotted a grand tribal jirga that President Gen Pervez Musharraf addressed at Governor’s House here on Tuesday, in protest at the government ignoring their input on the tribal areas, a senator said. “We have boycotted the jirga because our opinion is not sought while devising a policy on peace and development in the tribal areas,” Senator Hameedullah Khan told Daily Times. Ten MNAs and eight senators did not turn up at the jirga, which a senior aide to Governor Ali Jan Orakzai said was attended by 400 tribal elders. Only MNA GG Jamal, a federal minister, attended the jirga, the senator added. Gen Musharraf urged tribal elders to shoulder the responsibility of evicting foreign extremists who have “outlived their welcome”. “They (foreign extremists) are conspiring to wreak havoc in the lives of innocent people in Pakistan and the West.” He said the Pak-Afghan jirga would “sort out a peaceful solution” to Afghanistan’s problems, adding that the government would compensate the victims of NATO mortar fire in North Waziristan on June 23 in which 10 people were killed.
Also on Tuesday, Gen Musharraf addressed garrison officers at 11 Corps Headquarters, where he reiterated his government’s commitment to maintaining law and order “at all costs”. He said the capability of paramilitary forces, levies and tribal police was being enhanced so they could fight extremism and Talibanisation. “The writ of the government will be ensured,” he said.