The Awami National Party (ANP) leader, Asfandyar Wali Khan, has called for a joint Pakistan-Afghanistan strategy for restoring lasting peace in the militancy-plagued region.
At a ceremony marking the first death anniversary of ex-minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour in Peshawar, Khan asked rulers of the two countries to stem the tide of terrorism through comprehensive combined measures
“We seek an end to (US) drone attacks but we are also opposed to the movement of militants along Pakistan’s border and their sanctuaries in tribal areas,” he said, adding they were trying to unite Pakhtuns.
The ANP was still in favour of holding dialogue with the militants, but the government should take decisive steps in this regard as further delay could cause more bloodshed, the Pakhtun nationalist observed.
Bilour and eight others died in a suicide blast in Qissa Khwani Bazaar on December 22, 2012. He was the second senior politician assassinated after Benazir Bhutto’s death on December 27, 2007.
"Pakistan and Afghanistan need to devise a concrete policy to deal with the post-NATO withdrawal situation. Everything in Afghanistan has already been destroyed; there is nothing left to destroy further," he said.
"Uzbeks, Tajiks, Chechens, Arabs and people from other parts of the world have come here and are participating in the insurgency, killing our children..."
Ghulam Bilour, Bashir Bilour's elder brother and ANP stalwart, appealed to the Taliban to shun violence and stop killing of Pakhtuns. He recalled days before his assassination Bashir had advised his wife not to see his face if he received injuries in his back (a sign of timidity to Pakhtuns).
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