Peshawar: A Pakistani provincial governor today (April 5, 2004) offered "safe passage" to al-Qaeda fighters hiding among unruly tribes along the rugged Afghan border, as he renewed an amnesty offer.

"If the foreign terrorists want to leave Pakistani territory then we are ready to provide safe passage to them," North West Frontier Province Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain told an assembly of 200 tribal elders in the provincial capital Peshawar.

"Our amnesty offer still stands and once again we assure that anyone who lays down his arms and surrenders before authorities will not be handed over to any other country."

Provincial authorities have been urging tribes to form their own armed militias to pursue and expel foreigners and hand over tribal chiefs who have been harbouring them.

Hussain threatened a further armed offensive if the foreigners did not leave and their tribal supporters were not handed over.

He said force would only be used if traditional tribal practices of slow negotiations, meetings and consultations failed to get results, an official who attended the meeting said.

He extended a deadline for their expulsion or surrender to April 20.

Thousands of Army and paramilitary troops have been mobilised to the North Waziristan tribal region in recent days, said the chief of security for the tribal areas, Brigadier Mehmood Shah.