Leading tribal elders from North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Friday refused to become part of a jirga arranged with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps here on Friday.
Talking to Pakistan Today, North Waziristan jirga chief Malik Nasarullah said, “Yes, we boycotted the jirga with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.”
This is the first time in the history of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that tribal leaders have boycotted a jirga with a chief executive.
Nasarullah refused to comment further but leading elders from NWA made several justifications for boycotting the jirga.
Some tribal elders said that all 38 members of the tribal jirga unanimously decided to boycott the meeting with the PM as they were directed by officials “to remain silent and only listen to the premier”.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Pir Aqil Zaman, a leading elder from NWA said, “The government has insulted the jirga members by ordering a military action without consulting us first.” He opined that the ongoing military action would further complicate matters for the violence-hit tribesmen.
Other tribal elders, including Malik Faridullah Khan, Malik Ghulam and Malik Nek Daraz also expressed resentment over the government’s decision and said that the government needs to relax the curfew in NWA for a couple of days to allow the locals to evacuate the area completely.
OPERATION TARGETING INNOCENT CITIZENS:
Tribal leaders expressed resentment over the NWA military action, saying, “All terrorists have fled the area and the military action is only causing damage to the life and property of innocent citizens.”
They said that all Uzbek, Arab, Central Asians and Afghan militants had already escaped the area “long before the start of the military action”.
They complained that local tribesmen’s shops and compartments are being targeted in the ongoing military action in the area and demanded that the government review its policies.
IDPs NEED TO BE FACILTATED:
The tribal elders also expressed concern over the treatment meted out to the IDPs at distribution centers.
Faridullah said, “Thousands of people are in queues from dawn to dusk in the sizzling heat to get a few kilogrammes of wheat flour,” adding that he and other tribal elders had requested the Bannu commissioner to arrange more distribution centres but the commissioner had so far not done anything in this regard.
Sorry to sound harsh but most of these IDP and jirga are in bed with the terrorists. And now they’re crying because it’s their turn to suffer.
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