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Mamoond tribe vows not to shelter foreign militants

By Masood Khan

KHAR: A jirga of Mamoond tribal elders and senior administration officials warned tribesmen on Saturday against sheltering foreign terrorists in Bajaur Agency, elders said.

“Anyone sheltering foreigners will be punished heavily,” tribal elder Malik Shah Jehan told the jirga of the Mamoond tribe in Khar. Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal MNA Maulana Muhammad Sadiq was among the key participants.

The jirga, according to elders, is a step towards a North Waziristan-like peace accord. Bajaur Agency overlooks Afghanistan’s Kunar province, where US forces are battling Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Bajaur Agency Political Agent Shakil Qadir also attended the jirga from the Mamoond area, where a suspected Al Qaeda hideout and training centre in a madrassa was bombed last year killing around 84 people. The jirga vowed to work together for peace in Mamoond, adding that the tribesmen are “loyal citizens” of Pakistan. The Mamoond area is considered a stronghold of the banned Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariah Muhammadi of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who had mobilised some 10,000 volunteers to fight alongside the Taliban against the US-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan in 2001.

“Foreign hands are disturbing the peace in Bajaur and whoever helps the foreign hands will be hanged to death,” Maulana Abdul Aziz told the jirga.

Tribal sources told Daily Times that the government was trying to reach a North Waziristan-like peace accord with Bajaur militant leader Maulana Faqir Muhammad.

The deal was under negotiation for a while but the madrassa airstrike jeopardised it. “We hope that a North Waziristan-like deal is also reached between the government and tribal militants, led by Faqir Muhammad,” sources said on condition of anonymity.

Reuters adds: A senior political official in the region, Jameel Khan, said negotiations with the tribesmen in Mamoond had been going on for several months. “Tribesmen led by elder Malik Abdul Aziz assured us they would not shelter any foreign militants and would also not allow them to illegally cross the border,” Khan told Reuters.

Khan said the agreement with about 350 members of the Tarkani tribe was a verbal one reached with the political authorities.

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