Invitation extended: Advisory committee to meet PTM leaders

PESHAWAR: An advisory committee comprising senior members of the major political parties will hold negotiations with representatives of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) to resolve all issues and end the sense of deprivation among dwellers of the tribal districts.

Briefing reporters after the second meeting of the advisory committee, spokesman for the provincial government Ajmal Wazir said the committee having the backing of the federal and provincial governments formally extended the invitation to PTM leaders.He said that the advisory committee would discuss with the PTM leaders all issues to seek their solutions so that developmental work could be initiated in the merged districts. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan chaired the meeting at the Chief Minister’s House on Wednesday. The committee members are from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). Others members are Momin Khan Afridi, Mirza Mohammad Afridi, Shamim Afridi, Iqbal Afridi, Gul Zafar Khan, Munir Orakzai, Sajid Hussain Tori, Jawad Hussain, Abdul Shakoor Bhittani and others.

Ajmal Wazir said the former tribal areas had been kept backward in the past but the government wanted to remove the sense of deprivation among the tribal people. The government’s spokesman said the representatives of major parties were on the same page to talk out the issues. He said that they were of the view that the tribal people had suffered a lot and they would have to work together to solve their problems. The committee comprising senators and MNAs would hold a jirga with PTM leaders on March 26 at the Officers Mess at 11am to find out permanent and durable solutions to the problems facing the Pakhtuns. He appealed to PTM leaders to accept their invitation and play their role for the welfare and prosperity of the country. The government spokesman said the PTM had always been talking about the Constitution and they had also invited members of the National Assembly Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir to the previous meeting. He said now they had extended the invitation to end the sense of deprivation among the people of the merged districts. He said the problems surfaced after the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud. To a question, he said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor was enjoying constitutional office and he could not be a member of the committee.

Munir Orakzai said they had invited the PTM leaders through media and would also contact them personally to find out the solution to the problems. Terming PTM leaders as their brothers, he said they would jointly find out the solution to their genuine demands. He expressed the hope the PTM would accept their invitation and adopt a positive approach. Sajid Hussain Tori of PPP observed that after the merger of former tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it was their desire to restore peace, which was the main requisite for development. The members of the advisory committee appealed to the PTM leaders to resolve the problems in accordance with the Constitution. He said their committee was independent and would find out a solution. Asked whether there was any room for holding a jirga under the Constitution, Ajmal Wazir recalled that the chief minister has constituted the advisory committee and its terms of reference. He said that the committee enjoyed the support of the federal and provincial governments to find out solutions to the issues being raised by the PTI within the framework of the Constitution.

The official said that committee wanted a peaceful solution to the problems for the welfare and prosperity of former tribal areas as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.