Afghan, Pakistan tribal chiefs to meet in ‘peace jirga’

AFGHANISTAN: About 700 tribal elders, Islamic clerics and other leaders from Pakistan and Afghanistan meet here this week to thrash out a united stand against the rising Taliban threat on both sides of the border.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s military ruler Pervez Musharraf will on Thursday open the three-day “jirga,” a traditional gathering which has for centuries dealt with crises in tribal areas straddling the border.

It will be the first time tribal elders from the Islamic neighbours have come together for talks on the growing violence, with recriminations about the unrest souring already uneasy bilateral relations.

The Kabul “peace jirga” aims to share information about the militants, who regularly commit suicide and other attacks, and iron out disagreements between the two countries, officials said.

It is a “traditional tool” that will be used to “ban support and hideouts for terrorists in their regions,” said Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen.

The Taliban called for tribes along the rugged border to shun the talks, and while only a small number would say they had no intention of attending, they are likely to monitor proceedings through anonymous representatives.

The Afghan spokesman for the meeting, Mohammad Asif Nang, said the meeting was meant to be a “fact-finding jirga” to establish the whereabouts of militant hideouts and sanctuaries, and debate ways to eliminate them.

“The jirga will find the roots of terrorism, the elements of insecurity and the sanctuaries for terrorists, their means of financial and other support. It will seek ways to tackle the problems,” Nang told AFP.

Pakistan’s interior ministry spokesman, retired Brigadier Javed Cheema, said the meeting would look at factors behind the growth of militancy and come up with a strategy to combat terrorism through cooperation.

Kabul, Tuesday, AFP.