Bhurban: Minister for SAFRON Shehryar Khan Afridi has said that in Naya Pakistan, the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan is that Afghanistan is and would be an independent and sovereign state and its leadership would take all its decision without any external intervention and under Afghan peace process, Afghans would resolve all differences without any external intervention, says a press release.
Addressing the concluding session of Track-II dialogue called Lahore Peace Process held here on Saturday, Afridi said that Pakistan’s civil and military leadership is united for Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace dialogue as peaceful Afghanistan is interlinekd to peace in the region and beyond. The Minister said that this event is going to play a key role in bringing peace and development in Afghanistan and the entire region.
“We are striving for restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan. If western countries could evolve peace and develop together, why we the Muslims who are followers of one God can’t stand united and defeat enemy designs,” he said.
Afridi said that Islam teaches us to treat everyone equally irrespective of religious or other differences.
“Today, over 70 million people are displaced and majority among refugees today is Muslims. Just because we are fighting each other,” he said.
The Minister said that the entire world was indifferent towards Syrian refugees until and unless a body of a child on a coast was found.
“Pakistan hosted Afghan refugees for forty years following Sunnah of Holy Prophet. Though we suffered heavily due to terrorism, weoponisation, drugs mafia and other ills but Pakistan never turned its back on Afghan Refugees”.
Afghan leader Allama Saeed Hashmi said that Afghanistan peace process was a good omen and the leaders of both the countries should interact and discuss issues and resolve them on priority.
Madame Fauzia Kufi said a new leadership was at helm in Afghanistan and Pakistan and both countries needed to move on now. She said that both the countries had suffered a lot and both needed to move on. She said it was New Afghanistan and with advent of technology, Afghan nation had changed too. Calling for direct between leaders of both the countries, Koufi said that Afghanistan was in transformational phase and political leadership needed to take decisions according to ground realities. She said both Pakistan and Afghanistan needed to understand and give rights to womenfolk. Ambassador Shamshad Ahmed Khan said that the conference helped to achieve grand consensus on Afghan peace which was overdue and it should be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned and Afghan territory should not be used against any state.
He said Pakistan respected diversity of leadership in Afghanistan and the presence of leaders from all communities and parties in the conference reflected how much importance Pakistan accorded to the subject. He said Pakistan had always respected whosoever formed government in Kabul and whether it was Taliban, Hamid Karzai or Dr Ashraf Ghani ruling Afghanistan, Islamabad always coordinated with its neighboring brotherly state.
Maulvi Nabi Ayubi said that Jumbish-e-Islami wants peace returning to Afghanistan and it would support all efforts to evolve peace to Afghanistan.
Later, a joint communique was agreed upon between all participating parties on Afghan peace process.