Pak cuts troops in Waziristan to make peace with Taliban

The Government and Taliban on Wednesday swapped prisoners as part of efforts for a formal peace agreement. Thirty-one militants have been airlifted from a prison in Dera Ismail Khan and detention centres in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, and brought to Jandola, sources said.

South Waziristan, dominated by the Mehsud tribe, is the base for Mehsud. There were reports that Mehsud would oblige tribal interlocutors by freeing some security personnel and government functionaries being held by the militants.

Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar has claimed in the past that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has 80 to 90 security personnel and government officials in its custody.

A verbal agreement has been reached by the government and the militants but it has not been made public due to “sensitivities involved”, the Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday.

But the peace bid has raised questions, especially among Pakistan’s Western allies with troops in Afghanistan who say similar deals in the past merely gave the militants a free hand to regroup and plot violence in Afghanistan and beyond.

The latest talks stalled late last month after the Government rejected a militant demand for troops to get out of the region which has long been regarded as a safe haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

But a senior Government official said on Wednesday troops were being “thinned out” in at least two parts of South Waziristan to pave the way for an agreement.

“The troops have started thinning out from the Kotkay and Spinkai Raghzai areas,” said the official based in the northwest who declined to be identified.