Jirga talks with tribal elders bear fruit

Tribes announce they will open Banu-Miranshah Highway, all business centres for 15 days

MIRANSHAH:

A jirga on Friday comprising all the political parties of the country except the PTI successfully negotiated with protesters staging a sit-in for four weeks in Mir Ali against the lawlessness and target killings in North Waziristan.

The 16-member jirga, headed by Opposition Leader in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Akram Khan Durrani, was formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after his meeting with National Democratic Movement (NDM) chief MNA Mohsin Dawar a day earlier.

Following the talks that lasted for about six hours, the tribal elders of the area opened Banu-Miranshah Highway and all business centres for 15 days.

They gave the jirga 15 days’ time to address their grievances.

Until then. the protest camp of Atmanzai tribes will continue.

The jirga members said the problems and difficulties of the tribes of North Waziristan would be placed before PM Shehbaz for a solution.

Speaking to the media, Durrani said the jirga would try its best to solve all the problems of the tribes within 15 days.

He added that the target killings in North Waziristan were deplorable and the government condemns them.

He pledged to take concrete steps to end them.

On Thursday, MNA Dawar had informed the premier about the gravity of the situation as well as the overall scenario in his constituency of North Waziristan.

After the meeting, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had announced that a 16-member jirga would hold negotiations with the protesters.

A declaration issued under the signature of the defence minister had read that leading members of all political parties (except the PTI) would hold a discussion for peace with the elders of North Waziristan. First, the members of the jirga would hold an important meeting at Durrani’s residence in Bannu on August 12 at 10am, after which they would proceed to Mir Ali in North Waziristan to meet the participants of the sit-in and find a permanent and lasting solution to their problems.

It had added that members of all political parties and various organisations at the provincial level would also participate in the jirga so that a proper and long-term solution to the demands of the people and elders of North Waziristan could be found.

For this purpose, the names of prominent leaders of political parties including Akram Khan Durrani and Maulana Attaur Rahman of the JUI-F; Amir Maqam and Murtaza Javed Abbasi of the PML-N, Aimal Wali Khan of the ANP; Najamuddin Khan and Faisal Karim Kundi of the PPP; Sikandar Khan Sherpao of the Qaumi Watan Party; Abdullah Nangyal of the NDM; Advocate Haider Khan of PkMAP; Mukhtiar Bacha of the National Party (Bizenjo Group); Fayaz Khan of the JUI-Pakistan Noorani Group); Dr Zakir Shah of the Ahle Hadees Sajid Mir Group; Maulana Ataul Haque Darwish of the JUI-Pakistan; and Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami had been added to the jirga.