Ominous development: Jirga sets Dec 5 deadline for Mehsud IDPs to leave Wana

Mullah Nazir group also attends jirga convened by 120-member Aman committee.

DI KHAN:

A tribal jirga has set a December 5 deadline for militants as well as internally displace persons (IDPs) belonging to the Mehsud tribe to leave Wana, the main town of South Waziristan Agency, or else they would be expelled.

A Taliban faction led by Mullah Nazir also attended the jirga convened by a 120-member Aman committee in the Rustam Bazaar area of Wana on Saturday. The committee comprises elders and clerics from the Ahmadzai tribe.

The jirga also recommended punitive actions against those tribesman found sheltering IDPs or militants from Mehsud tribe after the deadline. The errant tribesmen would be fined Rs1 million, their houses would be demolished by the local Lashkar and they would be expelled from South Waziristan.

The jirga’s decision was announced on loudspeakers in the Karikot, Shakai, Azam Warsak, Spin and Toi Khulla towns of Wana subdivision.

Mullah Nazir, who survived a suicide attack on Thursday, is believed to be a pro-government Taliban commander. His group is allied with militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur who, US officials believe, is sheltering the Haqqani network in neighbouring North Waziristan Agency.



In view of the fluid security situation in Wana, Mullah Nazir is said to have written separate letters to the Afghan Taliban Shura and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

In one letter, Mullah Nazir asked for instructions from the Afghan Taliban Shura for restoring peace in the region, while in the other he warned Hakimullah to maintain peace.

Incensed by the letter, the TTP mounted a suicide attack on Mullah Nazir on Thursday in which eight people were killed.

In 2007, the Mullah Nazir group, aided by the local Ahmadzai tribe, had forced Uzbek militants out of Wana after a bloody battle. Analysts call the jirga’s decision ominous, which, they believe, could trigger a bloody clash between the Mehsud and Wazir tribes of the region.



On November 26, a jirga of the Ahmadzai tribe had renewed its commitment to the 2007 peace agreement and demanded the government also honour the truce.

South Waziristan is inhibited by Wazir and Mehsud tribes – the Wazirs live in Wana subdivision, which lies along the Pak-Afghan border, while Sarawakai and Ladha subdivisions are dominated by the Mehsuds.

However, the Mehsud tribe was uprooted from their homes by the 2009 military operation, codenamed Rah-e-Nijat, against the TTP in Sarawakai and Ladha. They were sheltered in IDP camps in Wana and southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa districts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2012.