WANA: Director General, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Monday said that work on demining of areas mined by miscreants had been started in South Waziristan.
He was talking to a delegation of journalists from South Waziristan that called on him at his office in Islamabad.Senior journalists Sailab Mahsud, Irfan Burki, Awardin Mahsud, Noor Alam Mahsud and others were part of the delegation.
The ISPR chief said that 10 teams of experts had been formed and they had started demining the area. The tribal journalists informed the military spokesperson about the hardships of the members of Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan.
They said the tribespeople were concerned over the ‘extrajudicial murder’ of Naqeebullah Mahsud in a fake police encounter in Karachi and the failure of the law-enforcers to arrest Senior Superintendent of Police Rao Anwar. They demanded arrest of Rao Anwar and justice for the bereaved family.
They told the ISPR chief that around 78 tribespeople, women and children among them, had either been killed or suffered amputations in landmine explosions in South Waziristan. They lamented that neither the heirs of bereaved families nor the injured were compensated. They added that the area has yet to be cleared of landmines.
The delegation members opposed the arrest of the local tribesmen after a blast or occurrence of other act of sabotage in their respective areas and demanded an end to the practice.They South Waziristan journalists urged an end to the Watan Card system and allowing the tribespeople to go in or out of their respective areas through computerised national identity cards to facilitate their movement.
The delegation members called for holding talks with the participants of the Mahsud tribe sit-in protest for the arrest of killers of Naqeebullah Mahsud and redressing their reservations about the occurrence.
Major General Asif Ghafoor assured the delegation to convey their demands and suggestions to the top army leadership.The ISPR chief said that the tribal journalists could play a vital role in restoration of durable peace in tribal areas. He said problems of tribal journalists would be solved on priority basis.
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