Dir Amn Jirga opposes planned anti-terror operation

TIMERGARA: Dir Amn Jirga on Tuesday rejected the federal government’s plan to launch an anti-terror operation in parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, especially in the Lower Dir district.

The jirga was convened here by Dir Qaami Pasoon (DQP), a civic body working for peace and development.Leaders of all political parties, social, political activists and area elders attended the Jirga. They included Dir Qaumi Jirga president and former MNA Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders former MNA Malik Jehan Zeb Khan and Malik Farooq Iqbal, Ali Shah Mashwani from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Awami National Party secretary general Hussain Shah Yousafzai, former MPA Bahadur Khan and Malik Muhammad Zeb from ANP, Maulana Sirajuddin Haqqani from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, former provincial minister and PTI-Parliamentarians leader Muzaffar Said, Pakistan People’s Party Lower Dir president Mahmood Zeb Khan and information secretary Alamzeb advocate, JI leader engineer Yaqoobur Rahman, president of Anjuman Tajiran Timergara Anwaaruddin, president Talash Qaumi Jirga Aftab Alam, former senator Gul Nasib Khan, DQP chairman Malik Jehan Alam, members from civil society, lawyers and several political workers were in attendance.

A joint declaration was issued after the jirga demanded the government to avoid launching any operation in the area as the people of Dir were loyal and patriotic citizens and wanted peace on their soil. It said the government should take measures to stop infiltration by militants if there were loopholes in border management.

The jirga slammed the federal and provincial governments for backing the military operation in Dir as it said Dir was a peaceful district and its people still knew the hardships of the 2009-10 mass displacement as a result of the military operation.

The declaration expressed anger at the silence of elected representatives from Dir and demanded that all elected representatives from Dir raise their voices on the floor of the parliament and KP Assembly.

It said approving the operation by the Apex Committee in the presence of the KP chief minister was a contempt of the mandate of the people of Dir.The joint declaration recalled that the people’s trust in government institutions was restored after the 2009 military operation due to the hectic efforts by the political leadership, government institutions and civil society members but it would be impossible to achieve the task this time.

The declaration said launching yet another operation in the area would create a wedge between the public and government institutions which was in no way in the best interest of the country.

It was decided that cooperation and all-out support to the government and its institutions would be carried out, however, the people of Dir would not form “Amn Lashkar.”The provincial and federal governments were asked to take serious notice of the declaration as the people of Dir as well as the Malakand division would resist any military operation in the area.