LANDI KOTAL, Nov 5: No parallel administration would be tolerated in Bara anymore, Khyber Agency Political Agent Mutahir Zeb told a jirga of Bar Qambarkhel elders on Monday.
Sources said that tribal elders requested the political agent to extend the deadline, set for launching a military operation in the area.
The political agent told the tribal elders that he would forward their request to the authorities but didn’t make any promise about extension in the deadline, they added.
The authorities had asked the tribal elders to hand over wanted militants, expel Afghan clerics, close private jails in the area and regulate activities of a banned armed group before Nov 5 otherwise a military operation would be launched in Bar Qambarkhel.
However, the tribal elders failed to respond within specified time to the government demands, sources said.
A jirga of Bar Qabmarkhel elders, headed by MNA Hamidullah Jan Afridi, held a meeting with political administration to seek extension in the deadline. The MNA told Dawn after the meeting that the political agent promised to forward their request for an extension in the deadline but declined to make any concrete promise.
Sources said that the political agent reminded the jirga that it had failed to furnish any guarantee regarding handing over of wanted militants, whose names were provided to Bar Qambarkhel elders few months ago.
“Also, the political agent was visibly not happy with Bar Qambarkhel tribesmen for providing shelter to militants, wanted by security forces in subversive acts,” sources said.
They said that the political agent expressed his inability in extending the deadline as members of Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir, the banned armed group, who were supposed to attend the jirga, did not turn up.
“This jirga has lost its utility and also the confidence of the government as it has failed to remove the apprehensions of the government,” the jirga was told by the political agent.
He said that no parallel administration would be tolerated in Bara anymore.
Meanwhile, security forces on Monday plugged all entry and exit points of Bara tehsil, restricting the movements of hundreds of stranded families in Shalobar, Malakdinkhel, Sipah and Bar Qambarkhel areas. It was also learnt that hundreds of army soldiers were deployed at Al-Haj Market near Bara Bazaar, Fort Salop, Jansi Fort and Shahkas area in Jamrud.
