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| Tuesday, 9 March 2004 |
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Tribesmen form armed force to hunt Al-Qaeda, Taliban WANA, Pakistan, Monday (AFP) Tribal chiefs have raised a force of some six hundred armed tribesmen to hunt suspected foreign terrorists hiding in the remote semi-autonomous South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan army troops in a major swoop arrested nearly two dozen Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects in a dramatic operation in South Waziristan last month, but the search for more suspects was still on with a warning to the tribal elders to stop providing shelter to them. Ultra-conservative Pashtun tribes living in the border belt, sympathetic to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fugitives, are believed to have provided them shelter since US-led forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 to topple the Taliban regime. Some 10,000 Wazir tribesman attended a tribal assembly, known as a jirga, which was attended by five Senators representing the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). "We hope that after today's jirga government will stop military operation in the area," senator Ajmal Khan told reporters. Senator Hamidullah Afridi asked the tribal elders to "take action against the hiding foreign suspects in the area otherwise Pakistan military will launch an operation against those who are harbouring them." Tribal elders in their speeches during the assembly resolved that no foreigner will be given shelter by the local tribesmen. The jirga decided that if any local tribesman provided shelter to any foreigner, his house will be demolished and a fine of one million rupees (17376 dollars) will be imposed on him. "We will not allow our territory to become Iraq or Afghanistan," Afridi said. Pakistani authorities Monday imposed a heavy fine on Ahmadzai tribe for attacking troops hunting Al-Qaeda supremo Osama bin Laden and his followers. The Ahmadzai tribe in South Waziristan district has been ordered to pay 5.4 million rupees (95,000 dollars) for at least three rocket attacks on troops and military bases since a crackdown began in January on residents harbouring Al-Qaeda fighters and their Taliban supporters. Last month Pakistani troops and US forces in Afghanistan launched a fresh operation to snare bin Laden and weed out Al-Qaeda fighters and Taliban supporters who are hiding in the belt of mountains that stretch along the 2,500 kilometer (1,550 mile) frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan. |
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