Peace deal between Pakistan govt and pro-Taliban militants

MIRAN SHAH – Pakistan’s government and pro-Taliban militants yesterday signed an agreement to ensure “permanent pace” in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, a move hoped to end five years of violent unrest in the region.

Senior army officers and militants hugged and congratulated each other after inking the agreement at a school in Miran Shah, the main town in the semiautonomous North Waziristan tribal region, where thousands of Pakistani troops were deployed after the September 11, 2001 attacks following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. Under the pact – signed by a fugitive militant leader, Azad Khan, and a government representative, Fakhr-e-Alam – no militant in North Waziristan will shelter foreign militants or cross the nearby border to attack the Afghan or coalition forces.Militants will also not target Pakistani government and security officials or pro-government tribal elders or journalists, North Waziristan lawmaker Maulana Nek Zaman said before both sides signed the agreement.The deal, if it holds, marks one of Pakistan’s major successes since it switched from supporting the pro-al-Qaeda Taliban regime in Afghanistan to joining the US-led war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.For almost five years, Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary forces have battled local tribesmen, many believed allied to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, in this fiercely independent mountain region where central government powers were not applied.Bin Laden is also believed to be hiding along the porous Pakistani-Afghan frontier.Nampa-APUnder the pact – signed by a fugitive militant leader, Azad Khan, and a government representative, Fakhr-e-Alam – no militant in North Waziristan will shelter foreign militants or cross the nearby border to attack the Afghan or coalition forces.Militants will also not target Pakistani government and security officials or pro-government tribal elders or journalists, North Waziristan lawmaker Maulana Nek Zaman said before both sides signed the agreement.The deal, if it holds, marks one of Pakistan’s major successes since it switched from supporting the pro-al-Qaeda Taliban regime in Afghanistan to joining the US-led war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.For almost five years, Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary forces have battled local tribesmen, many believed allied to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, in this fiercely independent mountain region where central government powers were not applied.Bin Laden is also believed to be hiding along the porous Pakistani-Afghan frontier.Nampa-AP