By IANS
Islamabad : Three hundred Pakistani Army personnel being held hostage in a restive province bordering Afghanistan will be released only if security forces withdraw from the area, say their captors.
The tribal militants – suspected to be Talibanis – holding the soldiers in south Waziristan have also demanded the release of 15 of their compatriots.
The authorities, meanwhile, have put the army on alert for launching an operation against the militants if they fail to release the abducted soldiers, The News reported Monday.
The abductors’ demand became known after a peace committee headed by National Assembly member Maulana Merajuddin of the Muttahida Majlis-e Amal (MMA) religious alliance returned to Wana, the headquarters of south Waziristan, following unsuccessful talks with the militants.
Briefing government officials about the outcome of the negotiations, Merajuddin said the militants, who had earlier demanded the release of 10 of their colleagues, had now increased the number to 15.
The militants also demanded the implementation of a peace agreement signed on Feb 9, 2005, under which the army was to be withdrawn from south Waziristan.
They also wanted military officials to inform them through the political administration about the movement of troops in the area “so that they could make arrangements for their safe passage”, The News said.
Even as the negotiations were underway, a bomb blast rocked a market in Wana, killing four people and injuring a number of others. The injured included Meetha Khan, a pro-government leader of the Wazir tribe.
Meanwhile, army troops based in the cantonments of Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan have been placed on alert for launching an operation against the militants if they do not agree to safe and unconditional release of the abducted security personnel.
The News quoted a man named Zulfiqar Mahsud, who introduced himself as a spokesman for one of the tribes of the region, telephoning the newspaper to say the security personnel had been kidnapped to force the government to stop the “killing of innocent people”.
Mahsud said the militants were holding the abducted personnel in small groups in private jails. He threatened more attacks on the security forces if Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf did not modify his policies towards the people of the tribal areas.
“The purported spokesman further warned of suicide attacks on those supporting General Musharraf’s policies. Sources close to militants said the militants were now openly travelling in military vehicles while brandishing weapons they seized from the security forces,” the newspaper said.