PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party on Saturday strongly reacted to the steps taken by the Punjab government against Pakhtuns residing in different parts of the province and warned that if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not resolve the issue it could create problems for the federation.

Speaking at a press conference at the party secretariat here on Saturday, QWP Chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao strongly criticised the action taken by the Punjab police to marginalise and harass Pakhtuns and said that the malicious propaganda linking terrorism with Pakhtuns should be stopped.

He warned that they would take every possible step to stop racism in the country, which was threatening the integrity of the federation.

He expressed his grave concern over the fresh wave of terrorism in the country and said that terrorist acts had caused serious unrest among people.

He said that the recent acts of terrorism proved that the government had failed to implement the National Action Plan in real sense.

Sherpao says centre should avoid creating hurdles to Fata-KP merger

He said that the NAP was announced after the Peshawar APS incident to uproot the menace of terrorism, but it was yet to be implemented and thus terrorists started regrouping everywhere in the country.

The QWP chief lamented delay in merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Area with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that it was a matter of rights of Pakhtuns and the government should avoid creating hurdles in this regard.

He said that the merger would not only make KP the second largest province of the country, but it would also be helpful in controlling militancy.

Mr Sherpao said that after the merger the people would be able to seek justice through judiciary while timely action would be taken in case of any untoward incident.

He said that the Fata Reforms Committee had already sought opinion of the people of tribal regions and now there was no room for delay in the merger.

He also expressed his apprehensions over the deteriorating relations between Islamabad and Kabul and stressed the need for revision of foreign policy to devise effective steps for removal of the trust deficit and for restoration of sustainable peace in the region.

He said that the closure of Pak-Afghan border was causing financial losses to both the states and common people across the border due to a halt of trade activities.

He added that both the countries needed to undertake confidence-building measures to reduce the trust deficit.

He called for using diplomatic channels to develop mutual understanding between both the countries.

He said that both the countries should develop people-to-people contacts in different sectors to improve an understanding between the citizens in the larger interest of common people.

Mr Sherpao also said that possibilities should be explored to hold joint operations against terrorists in both the countries to get the people rid of the menace of terrorism. He claimed that QWP would sweep the next general elections in the province.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2017