PAKISTAN: Pakistan tribal elders boycott anti-Taliban "jirga" in Afghanistan

A cleric from Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region says tribal elders are boycotting a "jirga" or elders council meeting in Afghanistan unless certain conditions are met by both Islamabad and Kabul. The gathering is aimed at building confidence between the two neighbouring countries. Tribal elders in Pakistan's Waziristan region boycotted a "jirga" or a traditional council meeting which opened in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday (August 9). Afghan and Pakistani leaders are holding the meeting to seek common ways to quash support for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who have destabilised parts of both countries. The three-day council, or jirga, was agreed by the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan in Washington late last year as a way of bringing together two often-feuding, but important U.S. allies. Afghan officials often accuse Pakistan of harbouring Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in order to keep its neighbour weak. Pakistan denies the charge and points out it has arrested a number of senior al Qaeda leaders and is battling its own Taliban threat in tribal areas along the disputed Afghan border. Some 175 Pakistani officials, politicians and tribal elders are to attend the jirga, in a large marquee in the Afghan capital, alongside a similar number from Afghanistan. Another gathering will be held in Pakistan, but no date has yet been set. But the number may be reduced by the absence of the Waziristan elders who want Pakistan to withdraw troops from checkposts in North Waziristan, as condition for participation in the assembly. "How can I go to Afghanistan to put out the fire in someone else's house, to help reform someone else's house, when my own house is on fire?" Maulana Saleh Shah, cleric and senator from South Waziristan, told Reuters Television in a recent interview. "What role can I play by going to another village, another country?" A jirga is a traditional meeting among the Pashtun tribes that live on both sides of the border, where elders rule by consensus to try to peacefully settle disputes. But in this case, one party to the conflict -- the Taliban -- will not be present. Consequently, tribal elders from the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan and main pro-Taliban Pakistani politician Fazal-ur-Rehman are boycotting the jirga. Shah said the absence of Taliban representatives rendered the jirga pointless, because disputes and problems are always settled among opponent groups. "The whole world knows that the militant power in the region is the Taliban. So unless this militant power is accepted as a party , who am I holding the Jirga with?" said Shah. The Taliban have rejected the assembly as a "waste of time and money" that would achieve nothing. Pakistan's Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told reporters in Islamabad he hoped the Waziristan elders would reconsider their decision because the basic aim of this jirga is to find ways and means to restore peace in the region. "We all have an individual and collective responsibility to play our roles for bringing peace and stability in the region. And I still hope that those who are keeping themselves out of this jirga would reconsider. And there's still time and I hope they would join the jirga," Cheema said. A Taliban resurgence in the last two years led to accusations by Afghan officials that the insurgents were organising and launching attacks from the safety of sanctuaries on Pakistani soil. Security was tight for the meeting for fear of attacks by the Taliban, whose fighters are also holding 21 South Koreans and a German hostage and have already killed three of their captives. Nearly 2,500 police are guarding the event.

ITN Source | August 9, 2007

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