Chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, on Thursday urged the government to take concrete step for ending drone strikes in tribal areas.
Speaking to media persons after holding the grand jirga, Maulana said drone attacks had been affecting lives of tribal people since many years. The jirga had recorded its protest against drone strikes in FATA area, he added.
He demanded of the government to take solid steps for convincing the United States to stop drone strikes inside Pakistan’s territory as they were open violation of the country’s sovereignty.
Maulana said the grand jirga could play its positive role to restore peace in FATA and rest of the country.
He said the jirga members deliberated upon future line of action as to how, when and where to hold talks with the Taliban.
He said the jirga wanted a permanent solution of terrorism in the country and for this purpose immediate actions were need of the hour.
Maulana said both civilian and military leadership should come on the same page to make a common policy for tackling the issue of terrorism.
He said the national leadership had given unanimous mandate to the tribal jirga for holding talks with the Pakistani Taliban leadership.
He thanked the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership for giving positive response to the peace efforts and said the Taliban leaders demonstrated sagacity by welcoming formation of the grand tribal jirga.
He said the banned outfit had also accepted recommendations made by the tribal grand jirga and now the government should consult the jirga to move forward in the wake of dialogue process with the Taliban.