PESHAWAR, March 20: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has stressed the need for a representative government in Afghanistan, saying that the current set-up in Kabul had failed to establish peace and its writ was not accepted beyond the capital.

Defending the role of Pakistan’s religious parties against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, he said they had performed their religious duty by siding with their Afghan brethren.

Speaking in the NWFP Assembly, the chief minister said he was proud of the role played by the jihadi forces in Afghanistan.

“We believe in an ideology, for which we can even sacrifice our own and our children’s lives,” he said.

He said United States was an usurper and the country’s rulers were implementing its agenda in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He said the NWFP had a religious government, which could not side with usurpers.

He said: “If the rulers are protecting interests of the US, who will safeguard the interests of Pakistan.”

He urged people to unite against foreign dictation.

He said that the former Red army had not only occupied Afghanistan but it was also trying to reach the Arabian Sea to establish its control over the region. He said Afghan jihadi forces had destroyed the supremacy of the former Soviet Union and led to its dismemberment.

He criticised successive governments in Pakistan for failing to make an independent foreign policy and reflecting the aspirations of the nation. Mr Durrani said the rulers should ponder over why they had failed to set a foreign policy free of superpowers’ influence since independence.

Speaking on the law and order situation in the NWFP, he opposed the ongoing military operation in Waziristan and termed the deaths of tribesmen an oppression against Muslim brethren who had been defenders of the country’s western borders since 1947. He said tribesmen had also rendered sacrifices for the independence of Kashmir in 1948.

He said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had asked Islamabad to find a political alternative to the military operation in Fata. He said aerial bombings and killings could not lead to a lasting solution to the issue.

Mr Durrani said his government had taken measures to stem lawlessness. He expressed the hope that people would help the security agencies against criminals.

The house, with a majority vote, adopted a joint resolution demanding that the federal government immediately end the military operation in Waziristan, killing of tribesmen, women and children and release innocent detainees. It demanded that the Political Parties Act should be extended to Fata and the parties should be allowed to start activities in the tribal belt.

It demanded the repealing of the Frontier Crimes Regulations and finding out a political solution to the Fata situation.

The resolution, signed by the leaders of all parliamentary groups in the assembly, was tabled by Bashir Bilour of the Awami Nation Party, who lashed out at the pro-US Afghan policy of the religious parties.

Earlier, tabling a joint adjournment motion on the issue, Abdul Akbar Khan of the People’s Party Parliamentarians warned that the bloodshed and anarchy in Waziristan might embroil the entire province in the crisis. He said those jihadis who were called heroes in the past were now being termed terrorists by the government and its secret agencies.

He said in the 1980’s US and Pakistani security departments had airlifted Arabs wanted in criminal cases in their own countries to Afghanistan to fight a war against Russians. They fought and settled in tribal areas and reared their children here, but now they were being branded terrorists by the US intelligence agencies.

Mr Khan said the battle-tested foreigners were being pressurised to leave Fata. He said they were leftovers of the holy war and intelligence agencies were responsible for their presence in the area.

After a lengthy discussion by Anwar Kamal Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Bashir Bilour, Mureed Kazim of the Pakistan People’s Party, Mushtaq Ghani of the Pakistan Muslim League and others, Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan relaxed the rules and converted the adjournment motion into a resolution.

Some MPAs of the PML and the PPP (Sherpao) endorsed the military operation and the resolution was adopted by a majority vote.

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Malik Zafar Azam presented the NWFP Prohibition of Kite Flying Activities Ordinance, 2006, in the house.

The speaker adjourned the session till Tuesday.