PESHAWAR: Awami National Party leaders on Saturday paid tribute to the late Afghan president Dr Najibullah on his death anniversary, and asked the government to take steps to end extremism that harmed both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Only an effective, targeted and precise military action can ensure an end to terrorism in the country and region,” said former senator Bashir Matta, while addressing a gathering at the Bacha Khan Markaz here.

The function was arranged by the Awami National Party affiliated National Youth Organisation in connection with the 18th death anniversary of Dr Najibullah.

Dr Najib was brutally assassinated by Taliban militants in Kabul on September 27, 1996.

After resigning in favour of the UN sponsored peace council on April 16, 1992, he had taken shelter in the UN compound in Kabul as rival mujahideen groups headed by Engineer Gulbadin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Mehsud clashed with each other.

In September 1996, the Taliban raided the UN compound, killing both Dr Najib and his borther.

The Awami National Party leaders recalled that none other than the late Dr Najib had paved way for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

After withdrawal of foreign troops, Najibullah had invited the rival Peshawar-based mujahideen leaders to form a broad-based national government, but the latter refused.

They said it was only after the late leader’s resignation that Afghanistan became a battlefield for regional and international militants.

They expressed satisfaction over resolution of the election dispute in Afghanistan and hoped that Dr Ashraf Ghani, like the outgoing president Hamid Karzai, would continue efforts for peace and an end to foreign interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

The speakers urged the youth to make efforts for peace and stability in the Pakhtun society that had suffered due to conflict in recent past.

They said it was high time for Pakhtuns to differentiate between friends and foes as “enemies had been deceiving them through hallow slogans of jihad for the last four decades.”

Senior and Awami National Party parliamentary leaders, including provincial information secretary Sardar Hussain Babak, former MNA Jamila Gilani, Dr Saeed ur Rahman, Sangeen Khan and Hassan Khan Buneri, spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, September 28th , 2014