Musharraf skipping peace council meeting

August 8, 2007

Afganistan - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will skip a three-day "peace jirga", or tribal council, citing "other engagements".

Elders from the Pakistani tribal regions of North and South of Waziristan have also refused to attend.

Up to 700 tribal elders, Islamic clerics and leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan have been invited to the council, which will discuss terrorism.

The Taliban have not been included, and are calling for a boycott of the event.

Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement on Wednesday saying Gen Musharraf had telephoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to assure his "full support in making the Joint Peace Jirga a success".

But he said engagements in Islamabad meant that he would not be able to attend the council, due to start on Thursday.

The decision may be intended as a snub to the US-sponsored jirga, following recent statements by US presidential candidates about alleged Pakistani failings in the "war on terror".

The jirga is also widely seen as a non-starter by the Pakistani establishment without the inclusion of the Taleban.

General Musharraf will send Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his place to inaugurate the assembly along with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The idea of a joint Afghan-Pakistan Peace Jirga, was first suggested by Karzai during talks with President Bush in September.

In October, President Karzai said he saw the jirga as an attempt to revive Pashtun civil society on both sides of the border, to combat what he called the growing Talebanisation of the region.

Jirgas are a traditional method of decision-making and dispute-resolution. The Taliban have denounced the jirga, calling it "George Bush's initiative".

State of Emergency?

Reports from Pakistan say Musharraf is considering imposing emergency rule.

Pakistani Information Minister Tariq Azeem said the issue was being discussed, given external and internal threats to the country.

Emergency rule would limit the role of the courts, restrict civil liberties and curb freedom of expression.

© AlaskaReport News