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Govt to seek dialogue with Fazlullah

* Renewed focus on negotiation a result of suicide attack on funeral of police officer
* ANP assures full support for political solution

By Iqbal Khattak


PESHAWAR: The new government would soon initiate dialogue with pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah to find a “possible solution” to the militancy raging in Swat district since last year, a MPA-elect said on Saturday.

“We want to negotiate with him (Maulana Fazlullah) to solve this problem,” MPA-elect Jaffar Shah of the Awami National Party (ANP), who won the PF-85 seat from the district, told Daily Times.

Renewed focus: The renewed focus on holding negotiations with the rebel cleric comes after a suicide attack at the funeral of a slain police officer resulted in the deaths of 40 people on Friday. Authorities believe Fazlullah’s militants are involved in the attack, even though no party has as yet claimed responsibility.

“Bringing normalcy back to the district is [a] top priority [of the party],” Shah said. He said all the MPAs-elect from Swat had held a meeting on Friday and decided to call a jirga of 100 senior politicians, community leaders and elders to seek their input on a “possible solution”.

“The jirga will soon be convened. Its participants will suggest various courses of action that should be pursued to tackle militancy and the worsening law and order situation,” he added. “Negotiations with all stake-holders will certainly follow the jirga’s recommendations.”

The suicide bombing on Friday raised doubts about the military’s claims that 90 percent of Swat had been cleared of militants.

Full support: Shah said the MPAs-elect had also met the party’s candidate for NWFP chief minister, Ameer Haider Hoti, in Peshawar on Friday. Hoti assured his full support for a political solution to the Swat situation, he added. Hoti had earlier said that the Taliban “are a reality” and that he would “hold talks” with them to improve law and order in NWFP.

“Before the jirga, all the ANP MPAs-elect would hold talks with nationalist leader Afzal Khan. After meeting him, we would draft a treaty and give Hoti a presentation before convening the jirga,” he added.

Shah also said that the party had decided to take up the issue of the implementation of Shariah in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) in the inaugural session of the NWFP Assembly.

PATA comprises Upper and Lower Dir, Chitral, Swat, Shangla and Buner districts, and the Malakand Agency. The caretaker provincial government had suggested to Islamabad that it implement an amended Nizam-e-Adl Ordinance in the area to pacify the local population.

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