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Frontier Corps seize

TIUQ HQs in Bara

PESHAWAR: Security forces on Sunday seized the headquarters of an Islamic group accused of setting up a rebel administration in an unruly area near the Afghan border, security sources said.

Frontier Corps using Armoured Personnel Carriers seized the huge compound of the Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ulema Qabail (TIUQ) at Bara eight km west of the northwestern city of Peshawar and there were no reports of casualties.

Bara lies in the Khyber Agency, a semi-autonomous tribal area where the government's writ does not fully run.

The government on Friday accused the TIUQ of setting up a "parallel administration" in the Bara sub-district and giving protection to drug traffickers and other criminals.

Nine people, including five soldiers, were killed in clashes in the area on Saturday, according to officials.

Tribesmen have been angered by the arrest earlier this month of TIUQ leader Mualana Abdul Hadi and seven followers on charges of carrying illegal arms.

Tribesmen said they would hold a Jirga, or traditional council of elders, on Monday to discuss the situation. All seven clans of the powerful Afridi tribe were expected to take part in the meeting at Qamarabad, west of Peshawar.

Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee and a government ally, said in Islamabad that dozens of people had been killed in recent fighting in the area between security forces and tribesmen.

"People are being killed and their houses are being razed," he told parliament in a speech to demand a debate on the crisis. The government agreed to hold a debate later this week.

Opposition deputies staged a walk-out to protest at what they said was a general breakdown of law and order in Pakistan.

The raid took place despite a ceasefire the two sides had agreed should run until August 20 and angry TIUQ supporters accused the government of breaking its side of the bargain.

"The authorities may capture our office (headquarters), but they cannot eliminate the Tanzeem," Fazal Rahman, brother of the TIUQ leader, told reporters.-Reuter