Tribesmen to boycott Pakistan Day function

To express anger over killing of 49 tribesmen in a recent US drone attack, the tribesmen in North Waziristan Tuesday announced to boycott the Pakistan Day celebrations.

Tribal elders in North Waziristan said they had decided not to attend the celebrations scheduled for Wednesday at Miramshah and Mir Ali, the two major towns of the militancy-hit tribal region.

The decision, they said, was taken unanimously by all prominent tribal elders and the purpose was to lodge their protest over killing of innocent people in the US drone attacks and Pakistan government’s failure to protect its citizens. Some of the elders, pleading anonymity, told The News that the tribal chieftains had been advised through pamphlets, believed to be circulated by the local Taliban, to avoid attending the government-sponsored functions.

The March 17 drone attack on the tribal jirga in the remote Dattakhel area in which 49 tribesmen, including children, lost their lives and around 50 others sustained injuries, has strained relations between the government and the tribal militants. The government has signed a peace accord with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants in North Waziristan, but the militants have been questioning the government’s silence over the drone attacks. Tribal sources said the drone attack had provoked the tribesmen and militants to attack a military convoy on Monday but some members of the peace committee intervened and persuaded them to refrain from doing so.