Pakistani governor offers amnesty to 'foreign fighters'

Author: AFP
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 1, 2004
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/595305.cms

Foreign fighters hiding in Pakistan's remote tribal areas along the Afghan border will be allowed to stay if they lay down arms and give up "negative activities," a provincial governor said Thursday.
 
The offer comes less than a week after Pakistan's army wrapped up a bloody 12-day offensive against a major Al-Qaeda hideout in a cluster of tribal villages some 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the Afghan border.
 
Despite the deployment of 7,500 troops against up to 500 fighters, 46 troops were killed, at least 15 civilians died, 63 militants were killed and 166 were captured. The rest escaped, including Uzbek radical leader Tahir Yuldashev, an Al-Qaeda ally.
 
Military officials have since been promoting a "political solution" instead of the use of force to rid the rugged and unruly region of hundreds of Al- Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
 
The governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, Syed Iftikhar Hussain, made the amnesty offer in a statement issued after he met a jirga (council) of 50 tribal elders.
 
"If foreigners hiding in the area surrender and local tribesmen take the responsibility that they (foreigners) will not take part in negative activities, the government will allow them to stay," Hussain said.
 
"But if they (foreigners) want to fight, they should go to their own countries and fight there."
 
Winning the support of the semi-autonomous region is a key goal of Pakistan's army as it establishes itself among Pashtun tribes who live largely under their own laws paying only token heed to the Pakistani government.
 
Troops entered the region for the first time in history in early 2002 as they attempted to seal the porous frontier with Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters fleeing US-led forces.
 
Hussain reiterated government's resolve to flush out terrorists hiding in the tribal districts near the border.
 

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