PESHAWAR, Feb 5: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal general secretary Maulana Fazlur Rehman's visit to India paved the way for the present peace process between Pakistan and India.
Addressing the participants of a walk, which later turned into a big meeting in Qissa Khawani Bazaar here on Thursday, Mr Durrani claimed that Maulana Fazal had persuaded the Indian leadership during the visit to find out a peaceful solution to the decades- old conflict which had been eating up the national resources of both countries.
He said that the Pukhtoon tribes had made many sacrifices in the past to liberate Kashmir from Indian occupation. He said that Pukhtoons would continue to support the just struggle of the Kashmiri people.
Mr Durrani said all the political parties held a unanimous view on this national issue and they wanted a peaceful resolution to the longstanding issue. He thanked members from the Sikh, Hindu and Christian communities, who attended the rally.
A leader of All Party Hurriyat Conference, Farooq Ahmed Wani and Shaukat Hussain Butt and Nazim of union council, Karimpura, Mohammad Saeed Butt thanked the chief minister for expressing solidarity with the Kashmiris.
Earlier, the Kashmir Solidarity Day walk, was led by Mr Durrani which started from the Milad Chowk, New Rampura Gate. Provincial ministers, MNA, MPAs and a large number of students walked up to the Qissa Khawani Bazaar.
NWFP GOVERNOR: NWFP governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said that the tribal people had demonstrated their solidarity with the Kashmiri people 56 years ago and participated in the war for national independence.
Addressing a big rally in Jamrud, Khyber Agency, here on Thursday, the governor said: "Today, again the tribal people are completely supporting their Kashmiri brethren and if needed they would render every sacrifice for the Kashmir cause".
Besides representatives of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, a local MNA Maulana Noorul Haq Qadri and a tribal elder Nawabzada Inyat Khan also spoke on the occasion.
Referring to the historic role of the tribal people, he said during the Independence Movement, Indian leader Jawahar Lal Nehru had to abandon his planned visit to the agency (Khyber) owing to strong resistance by the tribesmen.
The governor said there would be no compromise on the Kashmir issue."Those who are talking about such apprehensions are in fact misguiding the nation", he maintained.
JAMMAT-I-ISLAMI: The components of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the six-party ruling alliance, have separately organised meetings to express their solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiri people, struggling for independence of their motherland from the Indian occupational forces.
The political administration in the seven tribal agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, also organised rallies with the assistance of tribal elders to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
The Jamaat-i-Islami, an MMA component, had organised its own separate meeting at the Qissa Khawani Bazar to mark its solidarity with the oppressed Kashmiris. JI District Amir MNA Sabir Hussain Awan, Senator Prof. Mohammad Ibrahim, MMA district chief Hakeem Abdul Waheed and others addressed the meeting.
The JI workers unfurled their tri-coloured party flags instead of the white MMA flag, and also preferred to stay away from a government-Kashmiri joint walk, led by chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, which started from the New Rampura Gate.
The JI's different wings, including, Sabab-i-Milli, National Labour Federation and JI minority wing, attended the meeting and chanted slogans to denounce the Indian occupation of Kashmir.
SWABI: Like the other parts of the country Kashmir Solidarity Day has observed here on Thursday. The religious parties, government institutions and district government had organised two rallies.
District naib-nazim Muhammad Jamil, who had organised a rally, said that the core issue of Kashmir could not be resolved through wars, instead dialogue was the only option to get it resolved.
Now, he said the leadership of both the countries had realized that they could not resolve the Kashmir issue through war and both the countries now turning to the negotiation table with a new agenda.
MNA Muhammad Usman led the other procession, which after passing through different areas culminated into the Kernel Sher chowk. Leaders of the religious parties spoke on the Kashmir issue and warned the government to desist from making nuclear scientists a scapegoat for their political gains.
BAJAUR AGENCY: Thousands of tribesmen on Thursday expressed their sympathy and solidarity with Kashmiri people by parading through the agency bazaars.
Political Agent Bajaur Agency, Pirzada Khan, who led a big rally, said that Pakistan would not back out of its principled stand on the Kashmir issue. JI MNA Sahibzada Haroon Rasheed also spoke on the occasion said that no one could break Kashmir away from Pakistan.
MOHMAND AGENCY: The tribesmen in Mohamand Agency also marked a Day of Solidarity with the Kashmiri people and took out a procession, led by assistant political agent Yousuf Rahim.
The rally started from the Mohmand Rifles' headquarters and culminated into a meeting at the Ghallanai hospital's gate. JI leaders and tribal notables addressed the meeting and urged the Indian leadership to stop genocide of Kashmiri people.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazal) and JI also organised rallies and meetings in Bara and Landi Kotal (Khyber Agency) and showed solidarity with Kashmir brethren. JI workers in Landikotal also burnt an effigy of Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
LAKKI MARWAT: JI and MMA workers here took out a protest rally showing solidarity, oneness and fraternity with the Kashmiri Muslim brethren, and condemned the Indian rulers for committing heinous crimes in occupied Kashmir.
The rally was staged from the district office of the JI which proceeded towards Umer Gul Chowk and turned into a protest gathering. The speakers district Ameer Professor Sher Ghulam, Serai Naurang Ameer Maazullah Khan, Sabz Ali Naveed and Haji Ghulam Muhi-ud-Din said that whole Pakistani nation was with the Muslims of Kashmir.