Governor NWFP Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gilani (Retd) has said that if the traditional ways fail in arriving at a settlement with the delinquent tribesmen of South Waziristan, government may resort to conventional methods to rid the area of the foreigners.
The Governor said that there are a handful of tribesmen lead by one Neck Muhammad of Wana area who do not stick to the word they gave some time ago and drag their feet when it comes to the implementation of an agreement reached at the previous Jirga (assembly of tribal elders).
He said that there is no written agreement with those "five tribesmen" who are sheltering foreigners in their area as settlements arrived at such Jirgas are not reduced to writings or notarised. On the contrary the tradition is that a word given before the Council of Elders is a firm commitment and has to be implemented.
These observations of the Governor came in answer to questions he fielded from newsmen after inaugurating the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy here on Monday and concluded with the warning that "enough is enough" and the government will not wait further.
We have been meeting their demands one after the other and waiting for them to get the foreigners living in their habitats registered and guarantee that they would not intrude into the neighbouring country but they have started dragging their feet and seem not prepared to implement their part, he said.
He said that government was asked by this group first to release their prisoners, then asked for compensation to the families who had lost their bread earners or whose houses had been damaged in the earlier actions. All these suggestions were implemented by the authorities but the delinquents had not shown any intention of playing their part according to the agreements.
The Government had been holding a conventional action against the tribesmen in abeyance since December last. In the initial days they did not accept that some foreigners were holed up in their areas but now they had adopted delaying tactics and playing hard to get.
The authorities, he said, had shown a lot of flexibility to give the traditional procedures a chance but now they had come to the end of the road.
He said that if the traditional ways to resolve this impasse with Neck Muhammad and his bunch of four or five henchmen failed then conventional methods will have to be employed to flush out the hiding foreigners.
However, he did not say as to when such an action should be expected but claimed that an overwhelming majority of tribesmen of South Waziristan back the authorities in this context and a tribal lashkar against the tribesmen who had broken their word to the Jirga will get major support, he expected.
Before more questions could be asked the Governor was whisked away by his hosts to the inspection of the Institute and also the Ayub Medical Complex. He later returned to Peshawar.
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