ISLAMABAD: A group of tribal elders in Pakistan’s northwestern regions on Monday agreed to meet with leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a group campaigning for the rights of Pashtun nationals across the country.
A jirga (council of tribal elders) was formed last month to begin talks with PTM leaders, who have become more prominent in recent months as they increased pressure on the government to accept their demands. These include a halt to extrajudicial killings; the recovery and production in courts of missing persons; the removal of land mines from the northwestern tribal region, which has been the scene of a great deal of conflict between militant groups and security forces in recent years; and transfer of responsibility for security checkpoints in these militancy-prone areas to a civil administration.
PTM leaders have also been critical of the country’s security establishment in their speeches, widening the gulf between their activists and state authorities.
Last month, a jirga was formed during a meeting of the Apex Committee presided over by Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and attended by KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Corps Commander of Peshawar Lt. Gen. Nazir Ahmad Butt and other civil and military officials.
The jirga was intended to constructively engage with PTM members and help resolve the issues raised by the group amid rising tensions between the movement and the security agencies. Just as the two sides met, however, PTM leaders demanded “international guarantors” monitor their talks with the government, and the talks stalled.
The tribal elders convened again on Monday. The head of the jirga, Hajji Shah Jee Gul, a member of National Assembly for Khyber Agency, said that a four-member committee had been formed to meet PTM chief Manzoor Ahmed Pashteen and invite him to the next round of talks. The jirga will again meet on May 10 to review progress, he added.
“We will try our best to bring them to the negotiating table and find solutions to their demands, which are in fact the demands of the entire Pashtun community,” said Gul. “The jirga is ready to meet with PTM leaders and find out where the management of the group wants to talk and with whom.”
PTM members, who launched their campaign in February with a sit-in protesting against the killing of tribal youth Naqeebullah Mehsud during a police encounter in Karachi, quickly attracted significant support. The group staged public protests in Peshawar, Lahore and Swat, and is planning a major rally in Karachi on May 12.
Meanwhile, Arab News has learned that the government has also contacted retired military officials and bureaucrats from North and South Waziristan, asking them to talk to PTM and address their issues.
And on Sunday, KP police chief Salahuddin Mehsud visited Makeen in South Waziristan, where he met the Mehsud grand jirga to discuss ways to deal with the situation.
Tribal elders spring into action to restart talks with PTM leaders
Tribal elders spring into action to restart talks with PTM leaders
- Arab News has learned the government has also asked retired military officials and bureaucrats from North and South Waziristan to talk with PTM leaders and address their issues
- PTM has been critical of the country’s security establishment, widening the gulf between their activists and state authorities
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
