WANA: The local leaders and workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) and people from other walks of life on Sunday staged a protest rally against the closure of Pak-Afghan border at Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency.
The protesters threatened to open the Pak-Afghan border at Angor Adda point or else they would launch a countrywide movement for their rights.
This was the first time that supporters of the ANP and common people staged a sit-in and held the rally against the closure of Pak-Afghan border after several years. Led by the ANP leaders Azizullah Wazir and Nisar Lala Wazir, the protesters were chanting slogans against the closure of the route. A former National Assembly candidate Ayaz Wazir, Ziaur Rahman Wazir, Allah Noor Wazir and Taj Wazir also participated in the rally. Speaking on the occasion, they said that Pak-Afghan border had remained closed for several months due to which the tribespeople were facing many hardships. They said that the tribal relatives residing on both sides of the border could not meet and greet each other on the occasion of Eids. “This act on the part of the government to close the border and divide the tribespeople is unacceptable,” Azizullah Wazir said, adding that governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan must open the border and allow free trade between the two countries.
The speakers also asked the government to merge tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and compensate the people affected during the search operation on September 6.