PESHAWAR, Nov 4: The Awami National Party will hold a grand jirga of Pukhtun political and religious leaders here on Nov 20 to discuss the Bajaur bombing and find ways to prevent further bloodshed in the region.

“We must shed all our differences and sit together to stop more bloodshed of Pukhtuns. Pukhtun political leaders, religious figures and intellectuals should come forward and play their positive role to put brakes to the massacre of innocent people,” the party central president Asfandyar Wali Khan said at a press conference here on Saturday.

“The situation is not that simple as we are made to believe. The more it worsens, the uglier would be its consequences,” he observed, when a questioner pointed out to the presence of mysterious elements in Bajaur Agency.

“It is a tragedy that Pukhtuns are the victims and yet they are painted as the perpetrators. This is a deliberate move to remove Pukhtuns from the mainstream politics,” he said, appealing politicians, religious figures and intelligentsia to stand up for the survival of Pukhtuns.

He said that the proposed jirga at Bacha Khan Markaz would discuss a one-point agenda, ‘to establish peace in the area’.

He said that politicians, scholars, ulema and intellectuals belonging to NWFP, Balochistan and tribal areas would be invited to attend the event, but nobody from across the border would be invited.

Criticising bombing of the seminary, Asfandyar Wali said that he had predicted that after Waziristan, Bajaur would be the next target.

“Again, this is my prediction that Khyber Agency can be the next target followed by settled areas like Bannu, Swat, Tank and Dir,” he claimed.

He said that on the one hand the government had said that the authorities were about to sign peace agreement with the local people in Bajaur, while on the other hand the army spokesman claimed that the inmates of the seminary which came under attack on Monday last, had been warned for the last one week to abandon activities inside the compound.

He said that ANP condemned bombing on civilians whether it was carried out by Pakistan army or any other power. Asfandyar said that during his previous visit to Washington, he pleaded the case of Pukhtuns, adding: “We have diagnosed the disease and also prescribed the treatment.”