KHAR: The political administration of Bajaur Agency has expressed concern over the poor performance of Utmankhel tribesmen in fulfilling their collective responsibility against militant activities in their area.

`We are very disappointed by the poor performance of the elders and tribesmen of Arang tribe as they are not fulfilling their collective responsibility to arrest the terrorists responsible for the killing of three people including two tribal elders in a recent remote-controlled blast in the area, Political Agent Sohail Ahemd Khan told a jirga here on Tuesday.

Besides elders of various sub-tribes of Utmankhel, religious leaders and members of peace committees, officials of the political administration attended the jirga. The jirga was held after the Saturday`s terrorist incident in Arang area that lef t three persons including two pro-government elders, dead.

Addressing the jirga, assistant political agent said that according to tribal system the maintenance of peace and checking activities of militants in the area was the basic responsibility of local people.

However, he said, the recent incident showed that the local people failed to fulfil their collective responsibility. He noted that militants managed to escape after the Saturday`s blast owing to lack of coordination among the local people and their negligence.

The official said that Levies personnel, who were present in the area, besieged the locality where the miscreants were hiding after the blast. Had the local people helped the Levies personnel, the attackers would have been arrested easily, he said. He said that poor performance of the people of Arang tribe af ter the bomb blast was a matter of serious concern for the administration as they did not expected such a situation.

The official called upon the elders to realise the situation and keep a vigil on activities of miscreants in their areas. He asked the elders to end their personnel disputes and take concrete efforts to ensure peace in their area.

He said that joint efforts and unity were needed to defeat militants and foil their nefarious designs.

On the occasion, the elders announced to expedite their anti-militants activities in the region and said that they were united and fully alert to check militancy in their area.

`We promise to make all out ef forts for the safety and security of our motherland. We hope that the region would not witness such incident in future,` said Malik Nasar Khan, an elder of Arang tribe.