PESHAWAR, Sept 8: Foreign troops cannot restore peace in the region and the only solution to the crisis is a Pakhtun Qaumi Jirga wherein Taliban can also participate if they stop bloodshed, says veteran politician and central leader of Awami National Party, Mohammad Afzal Khan Lala.

According to him, nothing will happen if US-led Nato forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

“Enough is enough. It is time that leaders of all political parties and groups join hands to stop bloodshed of innocent people,” he told a 'Meet the Press' programme of Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

He said that Pakhtuns could resolve their disputes on their own but they were made scapegoats in the fight between two superpowers. He said that at least three million Pakhtuns were killed and as a result one superpower became the supreme power while the other one lost its position.

“It is a matter of grave concern as to why the war is fought on the soil of Pakhtuns. The war pushed them to utter backwardness and added to their miseries,” he said, adding that a liberal and democratic Pakhtun nation was deliberately branded as extremist and terrorist.

Khan Lala said that it was duty of all Pakhtun leaders, belonging to different political and religious parties, to play their role in bringing an end to bloodshed in all areas of the region including Afghanistan, Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Karachi.

“For restoration of peace in the region, all the three neighbouring countries —Afghanistan, Pakistan and India — should cooperate with each other and form a trilateral commission to monitor the situation on regular basis,” he said.

The proposed Pakhtun Qaumi Jirga, he said, would be organised in near future in five cities — Peshawar, Quetta, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Kabul — to ensure participation of maximum stakeholders and get feedback for restoration of sustainable peace in the region.

He said that in 1893 Pakhtuns were divided in Afghanistan, Fata, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and that was why they were subjected to violence everywhere. “Different nations of the world including German reunited and broke the walls but Pakhtuns could not unite despite lapse of 118 years,” he lamented. Referring to target killings in Karachi, he said that there were more than four million Pakhtuns, who were playing vital role in the development of the mega city. More than 80 per cent victims of target killing in Karachi were Pakhtuns, he said.

About agreements with Taliban, he said that all agreements in Swat were signed against his will and that was why none of the deals succeeded.

“Three provincial governments are responsible for Swat crisis,” he said, adding that former chief minister Aftab Sherpao formed Tanzim Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi for damaging Jamaat-i-Islami in Malakand division and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal gave a free hand to militants in the region while the incumbent government of PPP and ANP signed agreements with Taliban and provided them a chance to establish their network.

“Being residents of the area and victims of militancy, the government never bothered to take us into confidence before striking deals with militants otherwise we would have never allowed it to do so as it was not in the interests of people,” the ANP leader said.

He said that government's decision to establish an Islamic university was also wrong because the area people had never demanded setting up of institutions with such names.