Rulers asked to pay heed to people’s call for peace

PESHAWAR: The leaders of Qabail Awami Party have urged the government and security institutions to pay heed to the demands of people for peace and resolve the issues being confronted by residents of erstwhile tribal areas.

“The leaderships of government and security institutions must take serious notice of jirgas and marches being held by people for restoration of lasting peace and ending terrorism and militancy in the merged districts and elsewhere in the country,” Azam Khan Mahsud, the founder leader of Qabail Awami Party, said while speaking in a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday.

Flanked by other leaders of QAP, he said that people had lost their patience due to the indifferent attitude of rulers of successive governments and the leadership of security institutions.

He said that all the people hailing from the tribal areas were patriotic and were ready to render any sacrifice for defence of the homeland but the political and security leaderships had turned a blind eye towards their problems.

The QAP chief said that both leaderships must adopt a rational approach towards issues confronted by the dwellers of merged districts to end the sense of deprivation.

“People are holding peace marches, sit-ins and jirgas for weeks and months but no responsible person from government or institutions come to listen to their demands and problems and take practical steps for their resolution,” Azam Mahsud said, adding that government should end the policy of stubbornness and serve the masses in a true sense.

He welcomed the restoration of Fata Secretariat and demanded the government to restore the defunct Fata Development Authority, saying that the sense of deprivation of people could be addressed through restoration of peace and massive development packages for the hitherto neglected merged districts.

He said financial packages were promised for tribal areas at the time of merger of erstwhile Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the pledges were not honoured.

“With promotion of education, the youth would be attracted towards positive activities which would improve the overall landscape in the turbulent areas,” he said.