Peace parleys: Senators stress need for clarity

KABUL once again became a victim of Pakistani intelligence conspiracies.

Addressing a general session of the upper house, Fazel Hadi Muslimyar said: “We are concerned that Taliban would be replaced by Dayesh and Afghans will continue to lose their lives on a daily basis.”

Muslimyar said he wanted a peace process that preserved achievements of the last 13 years and remembered the martyrs. He accused ISI of supporting Taliban, Dayesh and other insurgent groups.

“The laboratory is there. They just replace Taliban with Dayesh. If they aren’t stopped, kidnap incidents will shoot up to 1000 in one year,” he warned, referring to the 31 passengers who were recently seized on the Herat-Kabul highway.

“If Pakistan is our brother; we have supported the peace process and would continue to do so, but we want clarifications,” he continued.

Some senators said peace parleys with insurgents were ambiguous. Lawmaker Gul Ahmad Azami said he opposed peace at the expense of achievements of the last decade. “We want our democracy and interests preserved.”

Nisar Ahmad Hares, another legislator, said: “We should have a proper understanding of those who take part in the parlays.”

After formation of the unity government, bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been on the mend and President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said the time for peace talks was ripe.

hg/mud

Visits: 1