Pakistan, Pro-Taliban Militants Sign Peace Deal for Border Area
Pakistan’s government and pro-Taliban militants signed a peace agreement Tuesday aimed at ending five years of violent unrest in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Under the deal, the militants are to halt attacks on Pakistani forces in the semiautonomous North Waziristan region and stop crossing into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and Afghan forces.
Pakistani troops are to stop their unpopular military campaign in North Waziristan, in which more than 350 soldiers, hundreds of militants and scores of civilians have died.
Senior army officers and militants hugged and congratulated one another after signing the agreement in Miran Shah.
Under the deal, no militant in North Waziristan will shelter foreign fighters. Militants also will not target Pakistani government and security officials or pro-government tribal elders or journalists, North Waziristan lawmaker Maulana Nek Zaman said.
Many tribesmen are believed to be allied with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding along the porous Pakistani-Afghan frontier.
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