Pak forms Jirga commission to stop Taliban moves

Islamabad, Jan 6: Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed KhanSherpao will head the proposed Jirga commission to establish a closeliaison with the Afghan government to stop cross-border movement ofTaliban.

The Dawn quoted sources as saying that the government will notify formation of the commission in the next few days.

The decision to form the commission was made after a meetingbetween Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Afghanistan President HamidKarzai in Kabul on Thursday.

The Afghan government had also been informed about the establishment of the Jirga commission, which will have five members.

The government has already nominated governors of the NorthwesternFrontier Province (NWFP) and southwestern Balochistan as members of thecommission while the other two members are yet to be appointed.

''The Jirga commission will be similar to the one recently formedby Afghan government to tackle terrorist infiltration in itsterritory,'' the sources added.

The Afghan government had strongly opposed Pakistan's plan tofence and mine parts of its 2,400 km-long border with a fear that itwould separate families on either side of the border.

It also asked Pakistan to take 'more steps' to maintain law andorder in the border areas and stop cross-border movement of terroristsas only fencing and mining would not serve the purpose.

Mr Sherpao said that the plan of fencing and mining the borderwould not be shelved, adding that setting up of the Jirga commissionwas another option to tackle the problem.

''Although the government of Afghanistan has some reservations onfencing and mining the border, it is our right to safeguard our borderby any method,'' the minister said.

Pakistan, he said, was not in favour of erecting fence or layinglandmines, but such steps were being taken as a last resort to ward offthe apprehensions of the Afghan government that Islamabad was nottaking serious steps to control cross-border movement of Taliban.

UNI>