PESHAWAR, June 8: The Fata chapter of Pakistan Muslim League has asked the federal government to replace the present political agents with army personnel, because the civilian officers had failed to provide security and protection to tribesmen.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, PML Khyber agency president Zahir Shah said that his agency had become a big den of criminals, while the political authorities based in Bara tehsil were making no efforts to ensure safety and protection to the residents. He alleged that political authorities were behind the incidents of kidnapping-for-ransom as none of the kidnappers had so for been arrested.

He demanded of the NWFP governor to intervene and order early release of agency councillors Malik Zahir Shah and Meraj Gul and their other eight tribesmen arrested by the political authorities of Bara on Wednesday. He said Malik Zahir Shah, also president of the PML Fata, had convened a tribal jirga on the instruction of the government to restore peace in the troubled agency, but he along with eight others were arrested to hamper peace efforts in the area.

He said the political authorities, in the garb of 40 Frontier Crimes Regulations, had been fleecing innocent tribesmen since British Raj. He alleged that the political authorities had pushed the entire Bara area into a security crisis to cover up their own wrongdoings.

Earlier, he said, the Awami National Party too had summoned a jirga to bring normalcy in the area. Mr Shah claimed that the incumbent political agent of Bara, was ignorant of the tribal customs and traditions that was why he had failed to maintain law and order and to end the sectarian dispute in the area. He demanded of the government to transfer the inefficient officers from the agency and release Malik Zahir Shah and his fellow tribesmen immediately.

Scores of tribesmen from Khyber agency were present on the occasion to mark solidarity with their detained leaders.