Summary Waziristan Qaumi Jirga has called for grand Jirga in North Waziristan to discuss peace.
PESHAWAR: (Dunya News) – Waziristan Qaumi Jirga chief Maulvi Gul Ramzan stated that all residents of Waziristan desire peace. He further said that the Loya Jirga will be announced in next two days, in which elected members of assemblies belonging to FATA, leaders of political parties, nationalist parties, all local and alien Taliban groups, tribal heads and military leadership is being invited. Maulvi Gul Ramzan maintained that outsiders including Maulana Samiul Haq’s envoy cannot negotiate with Taliban and that they are in contact with the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar.
Loya Jirga is a tradition peculiar to Pashtuns where elder members sit in a grand assembly in a bid to resolve the issues. The tradition is sometimes also involve masses in conflict resolution.
There were news reports suggesting government had assigned the task of paving way for peace negotiations to JUI leader Maulana Sami ul Haq. However, JUI chief denied any such reports on Friday saying the government hasn’t yet assigned the task to initiate negotiations with Taliban to anyone.
JUI chief went on to say that the government hasn’t assigned the responsibility of peace negotiations with Taliban to anyone yet; and maintained the government is serious about negotiations with Taliban. However the government is still unable to pave way to begin the peace negotiations as of yet, he said.
The matter of peace negotiations with Taliban came to a halt after the then Taliban commander Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike. The government and the opposition condemned the drone attack terming it an attempt to sabotage the peace process. The government and political leadership has since been figuring out a way to restart the process which came to an immediate halt after the Taliban leadership expressed distrust on the government and vowed to avenge Mehsud’s death.
