PESHAWAR:
Former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has urged Muslim countries to put lasting peace over conflict, warning that even the apparent winner of any war between two Islamic nations ultimately suffers defeat.
In a policy dialogue titled “Pakistan-Afghanistan Conflict and Its Regional Impacts” organized by the Institute of Islamic Studies (IRS) here on Friday, Sirajul Haq warned that rising tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan would hit the Pashtun population on both sides of the border the hardest, while further damaging their already fragile economies.
He hinted at external interference and claimed that certain global powers do not want to see stability between the two neighboring Muslim states.
“Dialogue is the only way forward,” he stressed. “All disputes must be resolved through negotiations. Sustainable peace in the region can only be achieved through diplomatic engagement, not confrontation.”
Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former adviser on information, criticized Islamabad’s handling of relations with Kabul. He said Pakistan should have established timely and effective diplomatic channels with Afghanistan, but political point-scoring on both sides had derailed meaningful talks and deepened mistrust.
“The people of both countries have no desire for war,” Saif said, urging leaders on both sides to immediately de-escalate tensions. He warned that excluding Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa from the negotiation process would make lasting peace almost impossible given the province’s direct stake in cross-border issues.
Saif also took aim at the federal government’s diplomatic approach, saying that issues with Afghanistan were never addressed with seriousness or through sustained high-level engagement. The lack of high-level direct exchanges, he added, had only widened the gap between the two nations.
Saif criticized the Afghan Taliban, saying the group had failed to live up to its commitments and appeared to be acting under external pressure, which had contributed to rising tensions. However, he expressed cautious optimism that sincere dialogue could still resolve the differences if both sides showed genuine commitment.
Earlier, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Khalil, chairman of the IRS, and senior journalist Tahir Khan also attended the gathering. All speakers unanimously called for immediate talks and stressed that regional peace is inextricably linked to mutual stability and cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The speakers highlighted Pakistan’s decades-long hosting of millions of Afghan refugees as a remarkable example of generosity rarely seen in the world. They concluded that the time had come for both nations to move beyond conflict and embrace dialogue, cooperation and peace as the only path to long-term prosperity.
