Pakistani tribals worried after govt’s talks with Taliban stalled

ISLAMABAD: The people living in Pakistan's volatile tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan have given up hope of some kind of semblance of normality returning to their motherland, which has almost been turned into a no-go area for non-tribal people.

For them, the stalled dialogue process between the government and Taliban for peace is a reckless exercise that is doomed to end in failure . They say the government's attempt to end militancy through talks was full of flaws.

"The major flaw stems from ignoring the local people ," says a prominent tribal elder from Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan. "We were not consulted and we don't know what the government actually aims to achieve from the so-called talks that lack the local people's mandate." He says the government should have taken into confidence the local maliks (chiefs). "The wisdom and understanding of local elders would certainly have helped the government in pursuing its talks agenda," he says.

The tribals believe they have suffered the most in the war against terror. According to them, no family can be found in the entire tribal belt that has not lost a member in the past decade either in bombings or indiscriminate shelling and firing.

Not surprisingly, they argue their miseries have gone unnoticed. "The war on terror inflicted manifold miseries on us, but no one has bothered to care," says Arif Afridi, a former official of Pakistan's telecommunication department, who lives in Landikotal town of Khyber agency. "In settled districts , the families of victims at least receive monetary compensation, but in our case we have been left to the mercy of god."

Observers say that for durable peace in the tribal areas, the government should take on board the main stakeholders — representatives of about 3.5 million tribesmen living in the seven tribal regions.