Women’s role in peace process underlined

JALALABAD (PAN could play a key role in the reconciliation programme, urging them to actively take part in the campaign.

The call was issued at a seminar titled “Women’s Role in Peace Process” in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province.

Held at the Governor’s House, the seminar was attended by Governor Gul Agha Sherzai, High Peace Council (HCP) officials, parliamentarians, women’s representatives and common people.

HPC deputy chief Maulvi Attaullah Ludin said the role of women in the peace process could not be downplayed. He stressed women should take part in the reconciliation drive as actively as men.

“Women make up half of the world,” the senior peace negotiator said.

He believed every woman could play her role as a wife, mother and sister to stop their men from waging insurgency and other illegal activities.

Sherzai also called women’s role in the peace process imperative, saying they should come forward and play their part. The governor said every Afghan both male and female was duty-bound to work for peace and stability in the country and should intensify their efforts at this stage.

Senator Siddiqa Balkhi told Pajhwok Afghan News such seminars, if conducted in other parts of the country, would not only help create awareness among women about the peace process, but incite them to have their say in it.

She urged prayers leaders to give sermons on the importance of peace in order to mobalise the masses. The Meshrano Jirga member said women’s role in the peace process had been far from satisfactory, stressing that peace should be discussed at every forum from mosques to seminars and workshops.

HPC Secretary Aminuddin Muzaffari said Allah has directed mankind to live in peace and His order is universal. He said women and men lived together and both had to speak for peace as their duty.

ma/mud

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