SWAT: The participants of Qaumi Jirga on Wednesday declared that residents of Swat rendered every sacrifice to defend peace and would never allow any element to hurt this peace in Swat District.
The elders of Swat Qaumi Jirga were speaking at a Qaumi Conference held at the Swat Press club here on Wednesday.
Local Elders, traders, transporters, lawyers and leaders of all political parties except the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf participated in the conference.
Swat Qaumi Jirga’s leader Mukhtiar Khan Yousafzai, Abdul Khaliq, Khurshid Kakaji, Abdul Jabbar Khan, Sher Shah Khan, Ahmad Shah Khan and others addressed the conference and said that the people of Swat would never allow anyone disrupt peace in Swat.
“We lost thousands of people and precious property,” they said and added that they knew the value of peace.
The elders said that Swatian are true Muslims and they could no longer be befooled with any slogan. “We are true Muslims and live our life according to Islam,” they declared, adding they would never allow anyone to rule them with might of weapons.
They said that they were surprised that every element wanted to bring Islam to Swat despite the fact that its residents were already Muslims.
“Since 1992, we have been experiencing militancy in one shape or the other and once again under a conspiracy some elements want to sabotage peace here,” they regretted.
They also condemned the police act of lodging FIR against some of the peaceful protestors in Khwazakhela and said they would resist such FIRs against the peaceful protestors. “If the government does not withdraw these FIRs, people of Swat would be forced to take to streets to press their demand.”
The jirga members also condemned the proposed route of the Swat Expressway Phase II and termed it the economic murder of the people of Swat. “About 50,000 Kanal of agricultural and orchards will be affected and more than 500,000 trees would be chopped off while 100,000 people will financially be affected due to the present route of phase II of the Swat Expressway.
They said they were not against the Motorway or other developmental projects and demanded that the expressway must be constructed along Swat River which would not only save precious agricultural land but also save the environment from degradation.
