LANDI KOTAL: The elders of Sipah tribe handed over eight more wanted men to Khyber Agency political administration to fulfil a condition placed by the authorities for return of displaced families of the tribe.

The surrendered men included Faqir Hussain, Ali Jan, Saleh Mohammad, Ahmad Jan, Zalay Khan, Mir Hasan Khan, Sahzad Gul and Khan alias Ziyarat Shah. The political administration had handed over to elders a list of 226 Sipah tribesmen suspected to be affiliated with the outlawed militant organisations.

The elders insisted that although names of the surrendered men wereincluded in the list of 226 wanted people, yet they were innocent and had no criminal record. They said that so far they had voluntarily handed over 55 men to the administration as part of their return deal struck with the authorities.

They said that the list also included names of at least eight dead men including Esrafeel, the son of Lashkar-i-Islam chief Mangal Bagh. Those men were either killed during the military operation or died natural death, they added. They said that Esrafeel was killed in Spin Qabar area of Bara a week after the start of Khyber One military operation in October last year.

Sources said that the names of those people, who had gone abroad, were also included in the list of wanted men. Some of the people mentioned in the list were teachers and khasadars, they added.

`We have time and again demanded of both the local administration and security officials to review the list of wanted men as itstill carries the names of even those, who have surrendered to the administration through Sipah Qaumi Sareshtha,` an elder told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

Interestingly the list also includes the name of Mangal Bagh, who fled to Afghanistan after the start of the military operation.

The Sipah elders also requested the local administration and the investigating teams to expedite the process of investigations of the surrendered men as most of them were kept in captivity without being quizzed.

`A speedy process of interrogation would encourage more wanted men to surrender to the administration,` they said.

The 80-member Sipah Qaumi Sareshtha has also convened a meeting on December 25 during which it will negotiate with relatives of those wanted men, who were willing to unconditionally surrender to the administration. The administration has also shown some leniency by not insisting onthe surrender of some hardcore militants, who, it believes, have either fled the country or have taken refuge in the mountainous border regions.

Meanwhile, Commandant of Swat Scouts Col Naeemullah has warned of a full-fledged military operation if Malagori and Shalman elders fail to clear their areas of suspect militants and anti-state elements.

Talking to a group of Malagori and Shalman elders in Jamrud, he said that no leniency would be shown to both militants and their facilitators. He asked the tribal elders to help the security forces and local administration in early recovery of government contractor Habibullah and his two colleagues, who were abducted by unidentified gunmen from Narai area of Loe Shalman.

The abducted contractor was awarded the contract of constructing a road, linking the remote localities of Shalman with Landi Kotal and Jamrud.