Taliban may attend tribal council summit in Islamabad

PAKISTANI President Gen Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai will lead their respective sides at the second grand ‘jirga’ - the council of tribal elders - in Islamabad in November, Pakistan’s National Assembly Member, Munir Khan Orakzai, told Gulf Times in Doha yesterday.

“It is also hoped that the representatives of Taliban and former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hikmatyar Khan will also attend the next jirga,” said Orakzai, while adding that credible sources bad indicated that Taliban and other militant groups were ready to sit down and talk.

The declaration issued by the jirga after its inaugural in Kabul in August had recognised that “terrorism is a common threat to both countries and that war on terror should continue to be an integral part of the national policies and security strategies of both countries,” he said.

According to Orakzai, the first-ever Pak­Afghan joint jirga was a success, considering it had brought together some 700 tribal leaders, parliamentarians, clerics and others. “They were able to discuss issues such as the ever-growing opium trade and other administrative issues.”

The opium trade has once again surged in Afghanistan, money from which is used by warlords to buy weapons.

Referring to the move to include the Taliban group in the conference, be said: “As we have reiterated numerous times, only with the inclusion of all parties concerned we can reach a lasting solution to the growing menace of Talibanisation.”

Asked about democratising the border areas of Pakistan, the MP said: “I have seen the locals responding favourably, whenever there was a chance to apply democratic principles, and I see no reason in the system failing if implemented in an area profusely labelled in world media as ‘lawless.”’

According to Orakzai, the judicial system in Pakistan is painstakingly slow and with a popular “cultural villain” as police, the common man usually resorts to parallel systems as jirga for quick justice.

“Jirga has been the only alternative the locals have had for centuries and it is not just going to go away, especially in the absence of a smooth and speedy judicial system,” remarked Orakzai.

According to him, the idea of the US government providing $750mn worth of aid to the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) - comprising seven agencies, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai, Khyber, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan - is ‘promising’.