Formation of Jirga must to ensure peace in tribal belt of NW Pakistan
'Pakistan Times' NWFP Bureau

PESHAWAR: Governor NWFP Khalil ur Rahman and Chief Minister NWFP Akram Khan Durrani in a meeting on Monday at Governor's House, Peshawar formally decided the formation of a grand Jirga comprising tribal malakan and ulema to find out a permanent solution to the unrest and confusion in the tribal area.

Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. Gen. Mohammad Hamid Khan and IG Frontier Corps Maj. Gen. Mohammad Aalam Khattak also attended.

This meeting was a continuation of the Sunday's meeting between the Governor and the Chief Minister wherein the federal and provincial governments had agreed to constitute Jirga to negotiate peace in the tribal areas through dialogue and remove the doubts and unrest of the tribal people in consonance withtheir traditions and aspirations.

The federal and provincial governments agreed to make the jirga a lunching pad for the permanent peace in the tribal areas. The jirga would comprise influential Malaks and Ulemas of FATA.

Later, talking to the media-men, Governor Khalil ur Rahman said that today's meeting was a continuation of the Sunday's meeting that he had with the Chief Minister.

The participation of Corps Commander Peshawar and IG FC would remove weakness in the decisions making process for bringing durable peace in FATA.

The mandate of the Jirga would take the tribals into confidence for checking infiltration and registration of foreigners and would negotiate peace in tribal areas.

The Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani also faced media people and said that Jirga had a prominent role for conflict resolution in triabla areas. We gathered to finalize the mandate of the jirga, its members and terms and conditions and the area of influence of the grand Jirga.

The jirga would be represented by tribal malaks and ulemas particularly those having respect and influence in their areas. He assured that the Jirga once constituted would take along the mandate of all and hoped that Jirga would reach to bring durable peace to the trouble hit tribal areas.

He assured the provincial government's help would be at the beck and call of the grand jirga.

Durrani said that his government would launch a joint struggle with the federal government to resolve the problem in FATA. "I think nothing would work other than dialogue and negotiation as negotiation identifies the real problem and provides a guarantee to permanent solution", he added.●