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‘No army in FATA after Jan 2008’

* Musharraf says FC, Levies and Khasadars to replace army

Staff Report

RAWALPINDI: President General Pervez Musharraf on Friday told a group of FATA parliamentarians that army would be withdrawn from tribal areas after January 2008, sources said.

“Paramilitary forces including Frontier Constabulary (FC), Levies and Khasadars will take over the charge of tribal areas from military, which would be withdrawn after January 2008,” the president told the FATA parliamentarians who called on him here at the camp office.

He said paramilitary forces would be fully equipped and trained to take charge of the volatile area. He said that NWFP governor would take the FATA parliamentarians into confidence on deployment of traditional forces in place of a regular army. The president has also tasked the governor with consulting the parliamentarians and preparing a strategy so that the army should be called back from tribal areas, the sources said.

They said that nearly 100 FC platoons presently deployed out of NWFP would be sent back to the province and their movement had already started.

The parliamentarians, including Senator Hamidullah Jan Afridi, Senator Hafiz Abdul Malik Qadri, MNA Munir Khan Orakzai, Federal Minister GG Jamal and Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai, assured Musharraf during the meeting that they would fully support him in his re-election bid from the sitting assemblies, said the sources.

They said the parliamentarians also showed their readiness to take part in campaign to muster support for Musharraf’s reelection.

“According to our tradition we would support you because you are in trouble and we would not demand anything in return,” sources quoted one of the parliamentarians as addressing the president.

Sources said that the president had agreed that Political Parties Act should be amended to take care of concerns of the FATA parliamentarians. “He also said that Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) would also be amended and a bill presented in the next session of the assembly,” the sources said.

According a statement issued by Press Information Department, the president said in the meeting with FATA parliamentarians that the government attached high priority to the development of FATA. He said record allocations had been made for the uplift of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The president also impressed upon the need to involve the elected representatives of FATA in planning and execution of various development projects. The parliamentarians lauded the pace of unprecedented socio-economic development taking place in FATA, the statement said.

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