PESHAWAR: Pakhtunkhwa Jamhoori Ittehad, an alliance of Pakhtun nationalist groups, has expressed serious concern over uncertainty in Afghanistan and urged the stakeholders to resolve their issues through meaningful negotiations.

The demand was made by the leaders of the alliance in a meeting here on Sunday. The meeting was presided over by its convener Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao while several other leaders including Mukhtar Bacha of National Party; Afzal Khamoosh and Waheedullah Khan of Mazdoor Kisan party; Akhunzada Haider Zaman of Awami Workers Party; Ajmal Khan of Olasi Tehreek; and Tariq Ahmad Khan, Dr Farooq Afzal and Akhunzada Sikandar Zaman of Qaumi Watan Party attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting said that the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan caused mental agony to the people.

They said that war was not solution to the grave situation rather it would further aggravate it by adding to the sufferings of the common Afghans. They said that the entire region had been in grip of wars for the past many decades.

The participants of the meeting said that peace in the entire region was linked with peace in Afghanistan. All the neighbouring countries and other stakeholders should take serious steps to ensure restoration of peace in the war-torn country, they added.

The PJI leaders said that Pakistan would suffer the most in case of lawlessness in Afghanistan. They said that the worst affected were Pakhtuns, who faced many indescribable problems during the prolonged war on the Afghan soil.

The meeting also condemned the alleged manhandling of the daughter of the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident, saying it could sour relations between Kabul and Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2021