SWABI: Jamaat-i-Islami emir Sirajul Haq has said that complete withdrawal of American-led Nato forces from Afghanistan would lead to restoration of peace in the region.

Talking to Dawn here, he said that because of the presence of US forces in Afghanistan the entire South Asian region remained in chaos, and peace would return to Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries after the departure of occupation forces.

The JI leader said that when the US and its allies occupied Afghanistan in 2001 the Jamaat leaders had predicated that they would also meet the fate of former Soviet Union and British colonials who wanted to occupy Afghanistan.

At that time majority of the analysts and European leaders were not ready to support the view that the US-led forces would face defeat in Afghanistan.

“Today, both the Americans and their allies are looking for face saving, but the historians would never miss the word defeat when they write the Afghan history and American adventurism in Afghanistan,” Mr Haq said.

He said that new president of Afghanistan was expected to be elected in the run-off elections because none of the two leading candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, could receive the required 50 per cent votes.

About the government-Taliban talks, he said that there was an urgent need to accelerate the negotiation process to achieve the desired objective of restoration of peace in the country. He said that all Pakistanis had been supporting the peace negotiations.

Mr Haq called for announcement of a permanent ceasefire by Taliban and urged the government to make every effort to continue the peace talks. He said that both the parties should respond positively to each other’s peace overtures.

Hinting towards India and the US, he said: “Some countries do not want the government-Taliban talks to achieve the desired objective because they have been working on an agenda to destabilise Pakistan. We should frustrate such conspiracies.”

Answering a question, the JI leader said that he was very hopeful that the negotiations would achieve its objectives. However, Mr Haq claimed that the government’s committee did not have the powers to make decisions.

He said that the government committee should have complete authority to make decisions which would speed up the talks and restore the Taliban’s confidence in the process.

“We have expressed readiness to play our role for restoration of peace, which is linked with the outcome of talks. The JI has been calling for dialogue with Taliban from the very beginning. The PML-N government has moved forward for holding talks with Taliban in line with the popular demand,” he observed. He reiterated his stand that the Pakistan Army should be part of the peace talks.

Earlier, the JI leader held talks with the members of Yar Hussain jirga and expressed sympathies with the bereaved family over killing of its six members three days ago. He vowed to play his role for early arrest of the killers.