Achakzai for better relations with Afghanistan

BANNU: Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Mehmood Khan Achakzai on Saturday said that peace in Pakistan was linked to stability in Afghanistan and India.
Speaking at a grand jirga that rejected the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said that Islamabad should promote friendly relations with Afghanistan and normalise ties with New Delhi as war was no solution to any problem.
“China, US and Iran should come forward and play their role as guarantors that Pakistan and Afghanistan should not allow the use of their soil against each other,” he suggested.
Mehmood Achakzai said that peace could only be restored if Kabul and Islamabad joined hands to take on the handful of militants vitiating peace in the two countries.
Mehmood Achakzai said that tribespersons should be allowed to make a decision about their future. He suggested the tribal people should elect a governor by ballot so that they could be able to make their decisions. “It will reduce the political agents to the role of clerks,” he added.
He questioned as to who brought the Uzbeks, Tajiks and Chechens to Fata that if Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other political figures couldn’t go to the tribal areas.
However, he said that the tribal people were made to fight for the US in the name of Islam.
The jirga passed a resolution that demanded the formation of a province for the tribal population instead of merging Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Tribal elders hailing from North and South Waziristan, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzai and Khyber agencies attended the jirga in large numbers.