QUETTA: The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) has supported peace talks between the government and the Taliban and called for Pakistan to be declared a Sunni state.

A conference organised by the ASWJ at the Hockey Ground here on Friday adopted resolutions to this effect. The gathering called for enforcement of Khilifat-i-Rashida in the country to run its affairs in accordance with the Quranic laws.

The ASWJ leaders urged the government to recover the missing workers of the organisation and release its arrested members. If there were any charges against the missing persons, they said, they should be tried in the court of law.

The party called upon the government to stop the alleged oppressive tactics being used against Baloch people and advised it to resolve contentious issues through negotiations to restore normalcy in Balochistan.

Addressing the conference, ASWJ president Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhianvi said he had embarked upon a peace mission and would visit different areas of the country to promote brotherhood.

He condemned a bomb blast near the conference. “But such acts cannot deter us from struggling for the enforcement of Khilafat-i-Rashida Nizam.”

He criticised the arrest of ASWJ members in different parts of the country and called upon the government to “stop unlawful action” against the organisation.

Allama Aurangzeb Farooqi, Maulana Mohammad Ramzan Mengal, Maulana Sanaullah Haideri and Hafiz Mohammad Qasim also spoke.