The Pak-Afghanistan Jirgagai in its two-day deliberations ended on Tuesday recommended to hold talks with the opposition and all those who are taking up arms to give peace a chance. The Jirgagai, consisting of 25 members each from Afghanistan and Pakistan, was envisaged in the declaration of the first Joint Peace Jirga held in Kabul in August 2007.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi inaugurated the Jirgagai. The Afghan component of Jirgagai was led by Dr Abdullah Abdullah, and Pakistan side was led by NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani. The mini jirga was mandated for dialogue to establish peace in the region, especially both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to control cross border movement of people, Owais Ghani said.
This task has been given to Jirgagai by the grand jirga, he said, adding this was a first step towards establishing durable peace in the region. He said that after 30 years civil war in Afghanistan, which also affected Pakistan badly, had given the realisation that the issue could only be resolved through constructive talks.
For which, he said, contact groups would be made in both countries to hold talks with those who are fighting the governments on both sides of the border. The chief of Afghan delegation, a former foreign minister, Dr Abdullah Abdullah said that the new situation demanded exploration of new opportunities, "and now all stakeholder have realised" that initiating dialogue process was the best option to give peace a chance.
The committees formed by Jirgagai would be headed by Owais Ghani in Pakistan and Dr Abdullah Abdullah in Afghanistan. They will be responsible to select members, and present their progress reports in 2-3 months in Kabul. Next joint peace jirga will be held in Islamabad. The Jirgagai held extensive rounds of discussions during joint working sessions and agreed to re-affirm the deep-rooted bonds and expressed commitment to further strengthen ties.
They stressed that the destinies of both countries were closely interlinked. "Peace and stability in one is sine qua non for peace and stability in the other". They recognised that with fully functional democracies, having vibrant institutions in both countries, would speed up the pace of co-operation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Jirgagai said that militancy and terrorism "are common threats", which require a co-ordinated response.
The acts of suicide bombing, killing of innocent people, destroying institutions of public interest are anti-humanity and against the spirit and essence of Islam, it asserted.
It also decided to undertake economic development activities, including trade, transport and transit, parliamentary, cultural, educational, sports exchanges and work together to counter cultivation, processing and trafficking of illicit drugs. The jirga called for facilitating interaction of the working committees who are tasked to carry out duties assigned to them.