PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party has expressed dissatisfaction over federal government’s policy on the tribal areas and claimed that militants are regrouping in Bajaur and Waziristan agencies after fleeing settled parts of the Frontier province.
Although provincial party president Senator Afrasiab Khattak appreciated the ongoing military operation in the Mehsud-dominated territory of South Waziristan, he said militants had sneaked into the neighbouring North Waziristan Agency where they had formed a parallel government.
‘Terrorists are regrouping in Bajaur and Waziristan tribal agencies,’ he said while talking to journalists after Qurankhwani held for slain ANP MPA Shamsher Ali at Bacha Khan Markaz here on Wednesday. ‘We are not satisfied with federal government’s policy towards Fata,’ he added.
Mr Khattak said his party being a coalition partner in the government had time and again demanded complete elimination of hideouts of militants in the tribal areas. ‘The NWFP government extended full support to security forces in their drive against militancy in the Malakand division and other parts of the province,’ he said and added the provincial government could not step in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in pursuit of militants.
About deployment of more US troops in the neighbouring Afghanistan, the ANP leader said Pakistan’s establishment and secret agencies should shun their ‘traditional role’ in dealing with terrorism, otherwise the tribal areas could turn into a battlefield for international war-gamers. ‘We could not see further bloodshed on our soil,’ he said, adding a peaceful Afghanistan was not only in the interest of Pakistan but also of the whole region.
He said non-local militants, including Arabs, Uzbeks and Chechens, had made their abodes in the tribal belt from where they were carrying out terrorist activities. He said peace-loving tribesmen in Fata were the ultimate victims of these terrorist activities.
Senator Afrasiab welcomed the announcement of gradual withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and said foreign troops could not stay for longer in any independent country. ‘Military option is no solution to any problem,’ he said and added that political settlement was the ultimate end of any crisis.
Paying tribute to the slain MPA Shamsher Ali, he said militants could not deter the Pakhtun nationalists in their fight against terrorism, calling upon political and religious forces to join their hands against terrorism. ‘Religious political parties should stop their dual standards because militants have been exposed before the whole nation,’ he added.
Answering a question, he said the ANP had called upon the federal government for drastic political and administrative reforms in the tribal areas and full rights and autonomy to the provinces. According to him, there was no deadlock over constitutional amendments, including renaming of the NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa.
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