A North Waziristan-like peace agreement between authorities and tribespeople in Pakistan's Bajaur tribal region was being finalized as the government is working to seek support of tribal elders for the deal, according to Saturday's DAWN newspaper quoting a Pakistani provincial governor.

The report notes that the Bajaur peace deal was expected to be signed in late 2006 but the move was suspended after a military airstrike on a religious school in the region on Oct. 30, 2006, in which more than 80 alleged militants were killed.

Pakistani government, joining Washington-led "war on terror" following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, have sent around 80,000 troops to tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to trace the militants who sneaked into Pakistan for shelter after the Afghan Taliban regime fell.

As part of its efforts to fighting terrorists and stopping cross-border movement of militants, Pakistani authorities entered into a peace deal with tribal people in the North Waziristan region in September 2006, where have seen years of deadly clashes between the security troops and anti-government tribal militants, who were believed to have include many local sympathizers of militants fighting in Afghanistan.

Under the North Waziristan agreement, militants had agreed that all foreigners living in the region would leave and those unable to do so would abide by the peace agreement, according to the DAWN report.

Talking to newsmen in Peshawar on Friday, Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai said that foreign militants had started leaving North Waziristan under the terms of the peace agreement, which once had drawn much criticism from the western world.

Pakistani officials have said while Pakistan will definitely use a strong hand against the terrorists, peaceful political dialogue will always be an alternative for rooting out extremism and terrorism from the country in a "sustainable" manner.

Source: Xinhua