ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Akhunzada Chatan said that the state should change its policy with Afghanistan and urged the president of Pakistan to call a Jirga by including local representatives of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to curb terrorism in the province.

“There is a need to change the policy in Afghanistan. Our policy in connection with Afghanistan has failed on many accounts. It is due to the ill-planned policies that the country is facing a new wave of terror. We have to review the policy with Afghanistan. No implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) was done. There is also no sign of the implementation of NAP in the future," he expressed these views while addressing a news conference on Thursday.

Chatan asked Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to convene the meeting pertaining to terrorism. He said that the KP chief minister should convene the session of the provincial assembly to discuss a new wave of terrorism and education. He said that books are not being provided to the students in KP and their education is being affected.

"Even the KP governor had never convened the meeting of the jirga to address the problems. There is a dire need to summon the meeting of the jirga in line with the terrorism issues faced by the emerging districts."

He said, “I will hold [a] meeting with the president of Pakistan and request him to call [a] Jirga with the representation of local people of affected districts of KP. The Jirga will present its proposals to address the issue of terrorism. These proposals should be presented to the prime minister and in the meeting of [the] National Security Council to curb terrorism in the country, especially in the merged areas (FATA) in KP.

He said that several incidents of terrorism had occurred in KP since January 2024. He said that in these incidents, the civilians and the people of law enforcement agencies have been martyred.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024