Dir tribes vow to expel terrorists and their facilitators

Jirga decides to confiscate properties of rogue elements

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LOWER DIR:

Tribesmen from a border village in Lower Dir district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have announced that they will take up arms against foreign terrorists operating in the volatile region along the Afghan border, vowing to expel them along with their local facilitators.

The development comes amid a sharp uptick in terrorist violence in the border districts, with reports that terrorists from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their Afghan cohorts are using sanctuaries across the border to launch attacks inside Pakistan.

According to local sources, a grand jirga held on Saturday resolved that no terrorist would be allowed to stay in Maskini Darra, Lower Dir.

The jirga warned that if anyone attempted sabotage or subversive activity, their properties would be confiscated and their families, along with those of their facilitators, would be banished from the area.

The tribal assembly also decided to organise night patrols to monitor and restrict terrorists' movement along the border. The move follows revelations by security sources a day earlier that terrorists in the neighbouring Bajaur district were living among the local population while carrying out terrorist and criminal activities.

The provincial government, including the chief minister and senior security officials, had offered three options to local tribal elders: 1.) Expel foreign elements — the majority of whom are Afghan nationals — from the area; 2.) If unable to expel them, vacate the area temporarily for one or two days to allow security forces to carry out operations to eliminate the terrorists; 3.) If neither is possible, reduce collateral damage to the minimum, as operations will continue under all circumstances.

Security sources stressed there was "absolutely no question" of holding talks with "Khawarij" or their facilitators unless they surrendered to the state. Terrorists from the TTP — responsible for much of the terrorist violence in the country — have been officially designated as "Fitna al-Khwarij." Officials claim they receive financial and material support from India's intelligence agency, RAW.

Security sources said convening the tribal jirga was a logical step to ensure maximum civilian protection before any operation, but reiterated there could be "no compromise" with the Khawarij, described as "enemies of Islam and the state."

"Neither religion, nor the state, nor the values of the brave people of K-P allow such compromise," one source said, adding that the authority to conduct any armed operation lies solely with the state.