The FATA Grand Alliance on Saturday urged the federal government to accommodate new Taliban proposals if it wants to keep the North Waziristan truce intact. “Scrapping the peace accord in North Waziristan is the result of immense pressure exerted on Pakistan to disturb peace in Waziristan and tribal agencies, and to pave way for the foreign aggression,” FATA Grand Alliance convener Abdul Karim Mehsood told Daily Times. He said the tribesmen would not bow before any foreign power and would fight till the last moment to protect their soil. “Everything was going well but the federal government violated the truce after the US lawmakers showed their concern over peace in tribal agencies bordering Afghanistan,” said Mehsood, who is also president of the FATA Lawyers Forum.He said the North Waziristan peace accord was in favour of Pakistan and therefore the US had opposed the pact from day one and exerted immense pressure on the Pakistan government to scrap it. “Pakistan must avoid further deployment of troops in Waziristan and accommodate new proposals from the opposite side to reach an accord and avoid further destruction,” Mehsood said. “Violating the basic clauses of the agreement, the government extended the army in North Waziristan, which infuriated the tribesmen and they scraped the accord.
| "The involvement of some hidden hands to violate the accord cannot be ruled out on the part of the tribesmen,” he said. |
“The shaken trust of the tribesmen about their future is resulting in a large scale exodus from North Waziristan. The government must restore the trust of tribesmen,” the FATA Grand Alliance convener said.
| “Sending an official-sponsored jirga to negotiate with the tribesmen seems to be a gimmick because it did not include the real tribal representatives.” |
“NATO and Afghanistan have pressurised President Pervez Musharraf to violate the basic conditions of the agreement and build up the army to meet the US’s interests,” Mehsood said. “Pakistan must robustly retaliate to any aggression against FATA otherwise tribesmen will not hesitate to shed blood for the protection of every inch of their soil,” he added. The FATA Grand Alliance was established two months ago, comprising various organisations from all seven FATA agencies, including Frontier regions, to get the tribesmen their due rights.