ANP urges stakeholders to work for peace in Kurram

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Aimal Wali Khan on Saturday asked the stakeholders to work for bringing peace to Kurram district.

In a statement, the ANP leader termed the ongoing sectarian conflict as politically engineered and asked the masses to beware of the people who wanted to fulfill their interests in the conflict which would claim innocent lives.

He said that the sectarian conflict was going on for a very long time but successive governments had become silent spectators. He said that Kurram district was not the only place where people of Shia and Sunni sects were living but the resurgence of violence in that district raises questions.

He questioned as to how such latest weaponry reached Kurram district and added that what the administration was doing when such weapons were being supplied to the district.

He said that the provincial government was probably unaware that 12 precious lives had been lost in Kurram district. He asked local elders, political leaders and others to play a role in the restoration of peace in Kurram district.

The ANP leader said that his party would support all peace initiatives in Kurram district.

Meanwhile, the political leaders from Kurram district have asked the government to clear the sectarian violence-hit district from all kinds of weapons.

Speaking at a press conference here, leaders of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat said that there was a need for a grand operation in Kurram district for the restoration of complete peace.

The speakers including Naqab Mangal, Malik Manawar, Haji Zahir and Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party chairman Muhammad Ibrahim Qasmi said that the state must clear Kurram district of the anti-state terrorist organisations.

They said that equipped with foreign weaponry and having close ties with other countries, these militias and terrorist organisations were a threat to the country’s security and demanded an immediate operation against them.

They warned of announcing jihad against these elements if the government failed to take action against them.