Peace initiative?: Mehsuds allowed stay in Wana

Pamphlet expresses consideration for IDPs living in the area since a while.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: After most internally displaced Mehsud tribesmen left Wana, a pamphlet allowing their stay was distributed in Wana Rustam Bazaar, South Waziristan on Friday.

The Mehsuds were forced to leave following a decision of a jirga held between Ahmedzai Wazirs and the Mullah Nazir group on November 29. The jirga announced that all Mehsuds would be expelled from Wana by December 5.

“The Mehsud tribe through this letter is informed that here (we have) peace for you, you people can live here and we have nothing to do with you. The innocent Mehsud IDPs and those living here since long can live peacefully,” read the pamphlet.

Signed by ‘Mujahideen Waziristan Wana subdivision’, it further said that the settled and displaced Mehsuds should form a committee that can communicate with them and exchange ideas.

The Mehsuds were also that they could approach the Mullah Nazir group if they face any injustice. The tribesmen were asked to leave after a suicide attack on Taliban commander Mullah Nazir on November 28 in Wana bazaar.

After the announcement, hundreds of Mehsuds left their houses in Wana and began moving towards North Waziristan, districts of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan and Zhob, Balochistan.

The tribal elders also said that any member of the Ahmadzai tribe giving refuge to a Mehsud will be fined Rs1 million and his house will be demolished.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2012.