PESHAWAR: The Pak-Afghan peace jirga will be revived to promote people-to-people contacts between the two countries and work for sustainable peace in the region.

This was decided in a meeting attended by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Speaker Asad Qaisar and Afghan Ambassador to Islamabad Janan Moosazai here on Monday.

A joint declaration issued after the meeting, which was also attended by leaders of some parliamentary parties, said that the peace jirga would be reconstituted to promote people-to-people contacts.

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The jirga was formed during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s tenure as president but it failed to achieve its objective.

The meeting on Monday also decided that Afghan patients seeking treatment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be provided all facilities in hospitals across the province. For this purpose, a special desk would be set up on the border to facilitate movement of Afghan patients.

Refugees must leave for homeland by December

The declaration said that a joint mechanism would be put in place for promotion of trade and investment bet­ween Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan. The government of Pakistan would register undocumented Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Refugees having Proof of Registration (PoR) cards would not be forced to leave Pakistan without their consent. Pakistan and Afghanistan would soon sign an agreement to this effect.

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PoR cards will expire by the end of the year and the government has categorically stated that no extension will be granted in refugees’ stay beyond December 2015.

The declaration said that arrangements would be made for the exchange of parliamentary delegations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The idea of greater cooperation in sectors like education, research, agriculture and industry would be persuaded. 

Published in Dawn March 17th , 2015

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