PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief Aftab Sherpao on Saturday said that Pakistan and Afghanistan should remove the trust deficit and ensure that their soil was not used against each other.
Speaking at a press conference here, he said there was a dire need to improve relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan at the government level and efforts should be made to increase people-to-people contact to bring the people of both the neighbouring countries closer.
QWP provincial chief and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister Sikandar Sherpao, Minister for Industries, Commerce and Labour Bakht Baidar Khan, MPA Meraj Humayun and others were also present on the occasion.
Former vice-chancellor of University of Peshawar Dr Azmat Hayat Khan announced joining QWP along with scores of his supporters at the news conference.
Sherpao said peace in the country was interlinked to the stability of Afghanistan so efforts should be made to remove misconceptions and distrust. He said Pakhtuns on both sides of the Durand Line had suffered a lot.
He asked the federal government to work out a strategy to cope with the post-2014 scenario in the region as it would have far-reaching effects not only for Afghanistan, but the whole region after the withdrawal of US forces from the neighbouring country.
He said the declaration of the recently held All Parties Conference also supported reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
He added that all the political parities should join hands to make efforts for the restoration of peace in the country. He said over 50,000 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in acts of subversions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the last several years.
The QWP chief said the federal government should help the provincial government to reconstruct the damaged infrastructure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the federal government should have given constitutional offices to the people from smaller federating provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
He said the federal government should avoid increasing POL prices and other items of daily use as it would create more problems for the poverty-stricken people.
