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| Darra militants also pursuing peace deal |
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
By Mushtaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR: Following peace agreements with the local Taliban in Swat and South Waziristan Agency, the government is likely to sign peace accord with militants in Darra Adamkhel town as talks between the two sides entered a decisive stage on Tuesday, sources told The News.
"The two sides accepted each other's demands and could soon sign an agreement to end months-long violence," remarked a source privy to the talks between the government and militants.
The sources said under the proposed peace accord, Army troops and paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) personnel deployed in the gun-manufacturing Darra Adamkhel town in January last would be pulled out.
Only local Khasadar force or the tribal police would maintain law and order in the area. Similarly, the sources said militants had pledged to renounce militancy and remain peaceful. "Militants would not brandish arms and would also not take law into their own hands," said the sources.
The militants also assured the Jirga members, negotiating between the government and militants affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - a conglomeration of all militant organisations - that they would not attack government installations and block the main Peshawar-Kohat road for traffic.
They also promised to cooperate with the government and its law-enforcement agencies in establishing government's writ and maintaining peace and order in the restive Darra town of the Frontier Region Kohat.
The Jirga was specifically worried about the protection of 1.9 kilometre-long multi-billion rupees Kohat Tunnel, which the militants had occupied and, before their mysterious disappearance in February last, damaged the crucial subway by blasting explosives.
This time, the Jirga made the militants bound that they would not damage the important tunnel, built with financial assistance of Japan. Like Swat and South Waziristan, the government would compensate all the affected people, who suffered losses in military operations.
Similarly, the sources said the government had agreed to release all the militants taken into custody during and after military operations. The sources said that once the peace agreement was signed in Darra Adamkhel, the government and the TTP leadership would sign a major peace accord in which militants' regional commanders from all the tribal regions would be invited to participate.
However, the sources said since the government wanted to keep the media away from details of the peace deal and also it did not want peace accord to be made public, therefore, it is possible the two sides could sign the deal secretly.
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briefs...
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ISSN 1563-9479 
