ISLAMABAD, 2 October 2006 — Authorities have shut down an office opened by pro-Taleban militants in North Waziristan saying it violated a deal struck between the government and the rebels.
Director General of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas retired Brig. Mahboob Shah told Arab News yesterday political authorities with the support of the paramilitary Frontier Corps shut down the office opened by pro-Taleban militants in North Waziristan.
He said the opening of the office was not only a violation of the agreement the government had reached with tribal leaders, but also an attempt to create a parallel administrative system in the region. “We cannot allow such activities,” he added. Shah said local tribal leaders cooperated with the authorities in closing down the office.
The office in Miranshah was closed over the weekend because it projected a “negative perception” about the recent peace deal between militants and the government, another spokesman for the government department told Associated Press.
Pakistan’s government has defended the Sept. 5 truce with tribesmen in North Waziristan, along the Afghan border, after years of bloody fighting.
Critics say the peace deal could create a haven for militants and make it easier for them to slip into Afghanistan. Area militants — suspected of links with the Afghan Taleban militia —had opened an office Wednesday for residents of semi-autonomous North Waziristan to report robberies, car thefts and murders.
A senior militant leader said the office would deliver justice under laws the Taleban militia practiced that provide for chopping off thieves’ hands and publicly executing murderers.
The establishment of the office had raised fears that militants were increasing their influence in rugged North Waziristan following the peace accord. The government department spokesman, who did not identify himself in line with policy, said newspaper reports had given the impression that the office was aimed at setting up an administrative system running parallel to government authority.
“Realizing that this was raising a negative perception, the office was closed on Saturday in complete association with the peace agreement,” a statement quoted the spokesman as saying. The government and tribal militants, often called “local Taleban,” signed the Sept. 5 peace agreement under which militants promised to stop attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In return, authorities withdrew troops from several security posts in North Waziristan and released dozens of tribesmen who had been detained over suspicion of involvement in attacks on security forces and links with militants.
