The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has convened a peace jirga at the provincial assembly on Wednesday to discuss the law and order situation in the province amid the recent terrorism spike.
The peace moot will also be attended by the federal government, unlike the previous jirga held in the Khyber district on October 25. On that occasion, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had warned against launching any new military operation in the tribal districts.
The Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), all of which are part of the opposition in KP Assembly, are participating in the moot. While the PPP had welcomed the moot, its attendance is yet to be confirmed.
KP Speaker Babar Saleem Swati will chair the jirga aimed at discussing strategies for restoring peace and countering militancy across the province. Swati and Deputy Speaker Suraiya Bibi were welcomed by a police contingent when they arrived at the venue.
The preparations for the jirga have been completed, as stakeholders from various schools of thought continued to arrive. PML-N’s Ibadullah Khan, the opposition leader in KP Assembly, is among the MPAs attending the moot.
ANP KP President Mian Iftikhar Hussain and former JI emir Sirajul Haq, as well as delegations of the JUI-F and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), have arrived at the venue.
Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan Party central chairman Afzal Shah Khamosh and lawyers are among other attendees.
Former KP minister Kamran Khan Bangash said at 10am that the jirga will begin shortly and shared a picture of the stage.
“The actions by the enemies of peace in Bannu, Wana, and Islamabad before the jirga are a conspiracy to sabotage the peace process. The enemies of peace will fail, and peace is our future,” he said.
The moot comes amid a recent spate of terror attacks across the country, with the federal capital also witnessing a rare deadly blast yesterday that killed at least 12 people.
The terrorism situation in KP also remains concerning. In Dera Ismail Khan’s Daraban tehsil, a bomb attack targeted a security forces’ convoy yesterday, injuring at least 14 personnel.
On Monday, the Cadet College in South Waziristan’s Wana came under attack. While all students and teachers were reported to have been safely rescued and all terrorists holed up inside the building were killed, the clearance operation resulted in the martyrdom of three individuals.
PPP parliamentary leader in the KP Assembly Ahmad Karim Kundi had hailed the decision to hold the peace jirga, noting that the poor law and order situation was the biggest issue faced by the province.
He said that while political parties had held jirgas for peace, a jirga was being held at the provincial assembly for the first time, representing the will of 40 million of the province.
JUI-F provincial emir Senator Maulana Attaur Rehman and provincial general secretary Senator Maulana Attaul Haq Dervesh were to represent the party in the jirga, according to party spokesperson Abdul Jalil Jan.
From the JI, party leaders Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and former senior minister Inayatullah Khan were to attend the peace moot, a spokesperson had told Dawn.
‘Peace above politics’
“Peace is more important for us than politics,” senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser said before the jirga began, pointing out that political leaders of the entire province had been gathered today.
Qaiser welcomed the participation of all political parties, including those in the opposition. “We will formulate a national policy through this jirga,” he said, adding that his party will present their demands before the Centre related to counter-terrorism.
The PTI leader, reiterating his party’s stance, said the Pak-Afghan tensions should be resolved diplomatically. “There will be peace in Pakistan once there is peace in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that the KP government will also present its demands before the Afghan ruling administration.
Echoing Qaiser’s sentiments, PML-N’s Ibadullah told the media, “We have set aside a myriad of differences and are sitting with the PTI.”
He highlighted that a jirga was being convened in the KP Assembly for the first time and said he was hopeful for a positive outcome of it.
The KP opposition leader noted that today’s peace convention had a single-point agenda of peace. “Terrorism is the number one issue. Amendments are the parliament’s matter,” he said.
“There should be no talks with terrorists,” Ibadullah asserted. “There will be no pardon for those who slew our children’s heads.”
