PESHAWAR, Feb 6: President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that parts of the NWFP were not facing a simple law and order situation but an insurgency by some trained elements.

He was addressing a meeting held at the Governor’s House to brief him on law and order situation and development activities in Fata and the NWFP.

This was Mr Zardari’s first visit to Peshawar after his election as president.

Governor Owais Ghani, Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, federal ministers from the NWFP Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Najmuddin Khan, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Arbab Alamgir, Noorul Haq Qadri and Sherry Rehman and Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik attended the meeting.

The president said that militants were carrying out subversive activities and adopting guerrilla tactics to replace the legitimate civil and political authority with a militant set-up.

These elements, he asserted, would be resisted and defeated at all costs. A sovereign country cannot accept this situation, he said.

He said that the militants were not a monolithic group but comprised diverse elements, including religious extremists, criminals, smugglers and local Taliban. The challenge posed by them calls for a well thought-out response.

It should combine the use of force people should be mobilised to resist militants and for them economic opportunities should be created.

The president advised the provincial government to prepare a comprehensive paper on the cost of insurgency in Fata and the province, so that the government could approach the international community with credible facts and figures for assistance in meeting the challenges.

He said a similar paper should be prepared for reducing poverty through accelerated development.He said he would hold another meeting in Islamabad to review the progress on these papers.

On a recommendation that emoluments and benefits of Khasadars and Levies in Fata should be brought at par with those of police, the president said that in principle he agreed to the suggestion. He advised the government to give it a serious thought.

The situation about internally displaced people in the province because of militancy and steps taken for their rehabilitation and return to their homes was also reviewed.

The meeting was informed that there were 64,000 internally displaced persons in 21 camps while another 40,000 displaced families lived outside the government camps in different areas of the province.

Relief activities of major international agencies like Unicef, ICRC, WHO and PRCS were also discussed.

Mr Zardari said that non-state actors responsible for the Mumbai blasts wanted to dictate their own agenda and rewrite the foreign policies of Pakistan and India. But that would not be permitted.

The president said that the fight against terror could be won with the active support of the community. He referred to the incidents in Lakki Marwat district where local people had stood up against militants and flushed them out of their area.

President Zardari said that a handful of elements wanted to make the majority hostage, but the people of the country were brave enough to frustrate their nefarious designs.

“We will outselves take our decisions in the national interest”, he said, adding that the militants would have to surrender because they had no other option.—APP

Dawn’s Peshawar Bureau adds: President Asif Ali Zardari arrived here on Friday on a two-day visit to discuss matters of mutual concern with the coalition provincial government.

He arrived here amid tight security at 3:15pm along with Information Minister Sherry Rehman and other senior officials of the Interior Ministry.