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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (45628)	3/1/2004 6:16:31 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Tribal Justice.. applying law in areas where lawlessness is the law. dailytimes.com.pk South Waziristan Agency’s political administration on Monday fined the Ahmedzai tribe Rs 5.4 million under the law of “collective responsibility” for letting their land be used for attacks and ambushes against the army and paramilitary forces hunting Al Qaeda suspects near the Afghan border. “A weeks time has been given to the tribe to pay the fine, otherwise the administration will proceed according to set procedures,” a tribal elder and senior administration official told Daily Times by phone from Wana, South Waziristan Agency. The Ashrafkhel Wazir sub-tribe was to pay Rs 1.2 million while the Malikkhel sub-tribe was to pay Rs 200,000 for not handing over one of the three most wanted men – Mullah Abbas – to the administration for harbouring terrorists. The rest (Rs 4 million) would be collected from the Ahmedzai tribe alone. But Malik Behram Khan, an Ahmedzai elder, told Daily Times that his tribe had refused to pay the Rs 4 million fine. “Under tribal traditions, if a criminal is unidentified then the whole tribe can be punished, but we and the administration know all who have attacked the army,” he added. “Since the criminal(s) and their tribe is known, the whole Ahmedzai tribe can’t be punished. We (Ahmedzai tribe) will not pay the fine. That is what we told the administration and that is what I am telling you,” he said. Asked if the refusal to pay up would deteriorate the already volatile situation in Waziristan, he nodded in agreement. “The situation may deteriorate,” he said, adding that his tribe would take action when the administration moved against them (the Ahmedzais). South Waziristan Agency chief administrator Muhammad Azam Khan told Daily Times that the Ahmedzai tribe was asked to pay the fine at a jirga. “They agreed to pay it,” he claimed. However, a tribal elder said the tribe sought two days for inter-tribe consultations. Asked what action would be taken if the tribe did not meet the deadline, Mr Khan said the administration had a number of options to consider. “For example, we can withdraw a number of perks that tribal chieftains enjoy,” he added but stopped short of giving details. Asked to comment on western media reports that Osama Bin Laden crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan on February 27 and took shelter in South Waziristan Agency, Mr Khan laughed and said, “They (media reports) are hot-air balloons.” A tribal leader said the Ahmedzai tribe had an option to appeal against the fine and the political administration could reduce or withdraw it if the tribe did something “special” with regard to the administration’s calls for their (Ahmedzai) support on the war on terror. Meanwhile, the death toll of Saturday’s firing incident rose to 14 when one of the injured died in a Dera Ismail Khan hospital on Monday. Lashta Meer’s body was brought to Wana and buried in his ancestral graveyard, a Jangikhel sub-tribe elder told Daily Times. Two rockets were fired at a military base near Miranshah Fort in North Waziristan Agency on Sunday night, eyewitnesses said on Monday. They caused no damage, they said, adding that one rocket exploded while the second did not..