Bara Siyasi Ittehad members rally for peace

BARA: The Bara Siyasi Ittehad here on Sunday staged a rally to demand the restoration of viable peace in the Khyber tribal district.

A large number of people attended the rally “Khyber Peace March” in Bara Bazaar.

Bara Siyasi Ittehad President Shireen Afridi, General Secretary Malik Attaullah Afridi and Member National Assembly Iqbal Afridi, Members Provincial Assembly Abdul Ghani Afridi and Sohail Afridi, JUIF Khyber Emir Maulana Shamsuddin, PPP leaders Wilayat Afridi, Sher Shah Afridi, Farhad Shabab, PMLN leader Malik Abid Faiz, President of Khyber Union Pakistan Murad Saqi, Hashim Khan, Usman Shah, Dr Tariq, Jamaat-e-Islami local leader Shah Faisal Afridi, Khan Wali, Shah Jahan, Asif Khan, PMLN’s Asghar Jan, Zahir Shah, Imran Afridi, ANP leader Abdul Razaq, Siddique Chirag, Tirah Siyasi Ittehad president Sher Afgan Afridi, Sher Muhammad, PTM’s Aftab Shinwari, Farhad Advocate, tribal elders, social workers and thousands of people participated in the peach march.

The speakers criticised the government for its failure to restore peace, which they said was its utmost responsibility to protect lives and properties of the citizens.

“We reject military operations and formation of peace committees in Tirah,” Shireen Afridi said.

He expressed concern over the silence of the government and the institutions over the activities and free movement of armed groups in Khyber. He said the government should take action against the elements who were up to sabotage peace in the area. He said the security forces should take action against the suspicious persons. He added that for the last two decades, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and especially the people of erstwhile tribal areas were devastated economically and socially and now once again efforts were being made to repeat the same policies.

Shireen Afridi said that they were sending a message to all stakeholders that the people were now awake and were opposing such policies and wars.

He said that the security institutions had failed to maintain peace as the calls for extortion, bomb blasts, target killings, abductions and disappearance were taking place unabated.

Senior politician Imran Afridi said innocent people should not be harassed during the search operations.

He said the police should avoid arresting people without having warrants. He said the police were harassing the people through unnecessary checkposts. He said the people had lost confidence in the police and other forces.