Pakistan, Tribesmen Reach Security Accord in Taliban War Zone
January 20, 2010, 08:16 AM EST
By Anwar Shakir
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s government reached an agreement to hand back responsibility for maintaining order in the longtime Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan to tribal leaders after a three-month military offensive.
Elders from the Mehsud tribe, which dominates the area, endorsed a government proposal with a unanimous show of hands at a gathering in Tank, the tribal agency’s winter capital. The two sides plan to sign the agreement on Feb. 10.
Mehsud leaders failed to prevent the rise of militancy since the U.S. invaded neighboring Afghanistan in 2001 and removed the Taliban in that country from power. Thousands of Mehsud men joined the Taliban to form the biggest terrorist threat in Pakistan, killing scores of pro-government elders.
Pakistan hopes that cooperation from the tribes will help quell violence that claimed more than 600 lives in nationwide suicide bombings and gun battles since 28,000 troops launched an offensive in South Waziristan in October. It would also pave the way for an eventual military withdrawal.
“First the government has to completely wipe out the terrorists from the area,” said Syed Alam Mehsud, an independent analyst in Peshawar, northwest Pakistan. “Then the tribes will be willing and able to implement the government’s demands.”
Pakistan has said 80 percent of attacks in its cities were planned by Mehsud Taliban. More than 3,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks in the country last year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad.
Dispute Resolution
Syed Shahab Ali Shah, the government’s chief representative for South Waziristan who attended the meeting, has held eight gatherings, known as jirgas, on a security deal since Dec. 15. About 550 leaders from the Mehsud tribe, the main clan in the northern half of South Waziristan, were present today.
Jirgas, which take place in the north and west of Pakistan and in Afghanistan, are the traditional Pashtun form of consensus building and dispute resolution. Participants wearing traditional turbans sat in a circle on the ground as a speaker announced the agenda and sought a show of hands to proceed. The end of the jirga was signaled by a prayer by the most senior tribal elder.
In today’s gathering in Tank, the government reiterated that the Mehsuds must hand over 382 wanted militants and agree not to facilitate terrorism. Shah told the gathering that they must not allow foreigners or Pakistanis from outside South Waziristan to enter the tribal agency.
‘Civil War’
“Why can’t the government get the wanted persons themselves,” said Zubair Khan, a professor of international relations at Peshawar University. “Making demands like this will lead to a civil war between factions of the Mehsud tribe.”
The tribes will need to raise an army of fighters to resist militants, Shah said in an interview. The army and paramilitary troops will stay in South Waziristan “to protect the tribes and help reconstruct” the region, army spokesman Athar Abbas said earlier. “We will facilitate the tribal army when needed.”
The central bank said this month the nation may miss its fiscal deficit target of 4.9 percent of gross domestic product this year because of war expenses. Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has said the cost of battling militants in northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan is rising.
The Mehsuds will be responsible for any militant activities in South Waziristan under a special law governing the region that dates back more than 100 years, Shah said. They will also be required to hand over all heavy weapons including rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns.
Under the 1901 Frontier Crimes Regulation, tribes are collectively responsible for any criminal acts in territory under their control. The three main factions of the Mehsud tribe dominate different areas of South Waziristan.
Return Refugees
There are an estimated 20,000 fighters in the federally administered tribal areas, of which 5,000 are in South Waziristan, according to Pakistan’s army.
“We have accepted the demands in principle,” Salahuddin Khan Mehsud, general secretary of the Mehsud Peace Committee said in an interview before the jirga. “The difficulty for us is that we are refugees right now and until we return home it’s very difficult for us to meet these conditions. We need time.”
As many as 500,000 refugees from the Mehsud area of South Waziristan are living in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank, according to the government. Troops have cleared 80 percent of South Waziristan from militants and refugees will return within two months, according to the army.
--Editors: Naween A. Mangi, Mark Williams.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anwar Shakir in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan at +92-966-714- 532 or
ashakir@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Foxwell at +91-22-6633-9026 or
sfoxwell@bloomberg.net.
Pakistan, Tribesmen Reach Security Accord in Taliban War Zone - BusinessWeek
