Authorities on Sunday closed thousands of shops belonging to local tribesmen in the main South Waziristan town of Wana in retaliation for their failure to hand over al Qaeda-linked fighters, officials said.
The move came as 59 people were arrested for not seizing foreign militants believed to be hiding in the tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
"We have arrested 59 people ... including the 13 arrested on Saturday," security commander for tribal areas Brigadier Mehmood Shah told AFP.
Most of the arrested are tribal leaders, he said.
"It is just the beginning. We will arrest more," Shah said.
Paramilitary troops have also been deployed in the area and barricades erected on all roads to restrict the movement of people and goods, an AFP reporter said.
Authorities have impounded several vehicles belonging to tribal people, and residents said on Sunday they saw military jets making low altitude passes through the area.
A military spokesman told AFP that the sanctions were imposed against tribesmen after their armed force (Lashkar) failed to nab any foreign fighters, mainly Chechens and Arabs with some Chinese, hiding in the area.
"After Lashkar was not behaving sanctions have been imposed," Major General Shaukat Sultan said on Sunday.
The weekend measures were taken after a disastrous military offensive in late March did little to purge Wana of foreign fighters and repeated attempts to negotiate their surrender proved fruitless.
The authorities have been making efforts to persuade the militants, believed to number between 300 and 600, to register with the local government after the army called off its 12-day offensive against them in March.
At least 46 troops were killed as the military tried to dislodge hundreds of fighters from two residential compounds.
But Sultan warned that if foreign fighters did not surrender, another military operation could be launched.
"As far as the military operation is concerned, that option we have, that is certainly there if the people do not surrender," Sultan said, though he declined to say at what point a new operation would be considered.
"We will not allow the foreigners to stay in the area and continue with their nefarious activities. The government cannot just keep quiet over it."
Following a meeting last week with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, the country's top military officials warned that al Qaeda-linked fighters in the South Waziristan area would have to surrender or face 'elimination'.
Military officials also said that tribesmen protecting the militants "will be dealt with severely".
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