KARACHI, Sept 24: Participants of a seminar mainly comprising public representatives demanded on Wednesday that cross-border attacks led by American forces must be brought to an end and instead a dialogue process be initiated to bring about a lasting peace in the region.

The seminar on “Dialogue not war: conflict resolution in Pukhtoonkhwa and Balochistan with women’s perspective” was organised by the Network for Women’s Rights and the National Organisation for Working Communities in collaboration with the UNDP. It was chaired by a retired justice Majida Rizvi.

The speakers demanded that a counter-insurgency strategy be chalked out; the Political Parties Act be extended to Fata to check the growing influence of extremists there and the Frontiers Crime Regulation be amended and made part of the constitution. Besides, they called for registration of religious seminaries.

MNA Bushra Gohar of the Awami of National Party believed that the present crisis could still be resolved through dialogue. She called for making necessary changes in the Afghan policy and stressed that the government must cooperate with Afghanistan in accordance with the AfghanJoint Peace Jirga Declaration, signed by both the countries in Kabul on August 12, 2007.

She said that military operations should be the last option for dealing with militancy and insurgency within the country. However, if it became inevitable the matter must be first debated in the parliament before making any final decision, she said.

Kamran Khan, an MNA elected from the strife-torn Waziristan, criticised the so-called war on terror, saying that it was not being fought to banish terrorists from the troubled areas. Instead it was the vested interest and energy resources which the foreign powers wanted to usurp, he added.

He said many provinces of Afghanistan were still in the control of the Taliban while the north-western areas of Pakistan were being attacked, which spoke volumes about the objective of a so-called war on terror. If the objective was to counter militancy, he asserted, the US would have supported the peace deals. He said people expected that the new elected government would act to protect the interest of the people of Pakistan rather than continuing with the policy of protecting the US interests in the region.

MNA Nafisa Shah of the Pakistan People’s Party said the whole country was affected by rising militancy and terrorism. She said the wave of terrorism did not even spare the PPP leader, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated on Dec 27 last year. However, she said the situation in the NWFP was different from that of Balochistan, where people were demanding the rights of a federating unit.

Amin Khatak of the ANP also explained the party’s policy and castigated those elements who were trying to portray Pushtoons as terrorists. Zahida Hina, Naila Quadri, Zain Ansari of the PML(N) and Qari Sher Afzal also spoke.

They deplored the killing of women in Naseerabad and demanded immediate release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui from US custody.