Mehsud jirga agrees to hand over Hakimullah

PESHAWAR (APP) A jirga of Mehsud tribe Wednesday agreed to hand over their 378 wanted men including Chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud to the government and announced to fully support the government in the maintenance of peace, and reconstruction process.
The tribal jirga announced to accept all the seven conditions put up by the Government for ensuring peace and harmony in the South Waziristan Agency. The Government had given January 20, 2010 as the deadline to the Mehsud tribe for seeking their response on the seven point conditions.
The announcement was made at a jirga held at Political Compound South Waziristan in Tank District which was attended by over 300 leading tribal elders of the Mehsud tribe.
Political Agency South Waziristan Shahab Ali Shah, Senator Maulana Salih Shah were in attendance.
The jirga agreed to the conditions by the government for maintaining public order in area to which the worlds most wanted men belong as described by US representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrook in his recent visit to the region.
The jirga agreed that Mehsud tribesmen would not display heavy and automatic arms in the agency, agreeing to territorial responsibility, writ of the government, and not giving shelter to the foreigners in their areas.
The tribal elders in their speeches said, they dont want to fight against the army, its our own army which has sufficient representation of the tribal people. Pakistan is our beloved country as our forefathers have offered matchless sacrifices for the establishment of Pakistan. We want peace to flourish in tribal areas.
They expressed the confidence that the tribal people who have migrated due to operation would return after peace was restored.
They also expressed satisfaction over the allocation of Rs 1 billion by the federal government for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the affectees. However, they demanded more funds for the agency saying the agency was ignored by the successive previous governments.
The jirga agreed to continue the process of talks with the administration for ensuring peace and announced summoning of another big jirga of the Mehsud tribe for February 10, 2010.
Political Agent Shahab Ali Shah said the government was satisfied with the performance of the tribal elders of Mehsud tribe regarding peace and harmony. He said that the IDPs wanted to go back to their agency but it needed a thorough return plan. The administration would support the return of the Mehsud tibesmen, he added.