CHARSADDA: Hailing the recent efforts to revive talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Awami National Party President Asfandyar Wali Khan on Saturday said there was no other option but to make joint efforts to eliminate terrorism from the region.

“Friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are imperative to eliminate terrorism from and restore peace in the region,” the ANP leader said in a statement issued by Wali Bagh here on the third anniversary of the attack on the Bacha Khan University, Charsadda. Mr Asfandyar said Pakistan and Afghanistan had to forge unity and develop mutual understanding to defeat the terrorist mindset.

He said the monster of terrorism could be defeated only through mutual cooperation. The ANP leader said the implementation of the 20-point National Action Plan to eliminate terrorism had become a far cry.

“Our party raised the issue several times but the government turned a deaf ear to it,” he said.

Mr Asfandyar said the families of the Bacha Khan University attack’s victims had been awaiting the dispensation of justice for three years as the authorities had failed to bring culprits to justice. He said the ANP and its workers had been following the non-violence philosophy of Bacha Khan.

“The country has suffered a lot during the last 40 years due to the wrong policies and will suffer more if we don’t learn a lesson from past mistakes,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019