Efforts 'to save' Pakistan deal

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The Pakistani government says it is negotiating with tribal elders in the region near the Afghan border to save a peace deal with local people.

Local leaders said they were abrogating the agreement after thousands of extra troops were deployed there.

A surge in violence in North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) has left more than 60 people dead in three days.

The foreign ministry says that the agreement has not ended, and that talks with tribal elders are ongoing.

Complaints

Officials told the AFP news agency that a government representative met elders in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, to find out the status of the pact after the reported statement by Taleban commanders that they were scrapping it.

President Musharraf has a safe haven problem in an area of his country where the central government has really not been present for decades US National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley

"We are trying to engage them in a bid to keep the accord intact," the governor of North West Frontier Province and the architect of the deal, Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai, was quoted as telling The News daily.

Local sources told AFP that the talks covered complaints by tribesmen that troops have taken up positions at checkpoints which were abandoned under the deal, and about unpaid compensation for previous military operations.

Under the September deal - which was strongly criticised by the US and Afghanistan - the militants pledged to stop cross-border attacks in war-torn Afghanistan and hunt down foreign insurgents hiding in lawless mountain areas.

However, some pro-Taleban militants have denied that any further talks are taking place.

Thousands of people are reported to have fled the tense tribal region of North Waziristan when news of the breakdown of the peace treaty became widely known.

Meanwhile the NWFP Chief Minister, Akram Durrani, on Monday summoned a meeting of key clerics, tribal elders and lawmakers to discuss the security situation.

President George W Bush's National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, backed President Pervez Musharraf's move to send more troops to the region.

Militant Islamists have called for a holy war to avenge the storming of a radical mosque in Islamabad last week.

In an interview with CNN, Mr Hadley said, "He [President Musharraf] has a safe haven problem in an area of his country where Pakistan's central government has really not been present for decades or even generations."

On Sunday, pro-Taleban militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan region announced they were scrapping their truce with the Musharraf government amid growing tension in the area.

Last September's truce had ended two years of clashes and was aimed at stopping cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.

In a statement issued in Miranshah town on Sunday, the militants accused the government of breaking the agreement.

It came as Pakistan deployed more troops in the area, fearing "holy war" after the storming of the militant Red Mosque last week left 102 dead.