KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani has asked a top Pakistani cleric to help convince the Taliban into resuming peace parleys with his administration.
Ghani made the request in a telephone call to Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S) who is widely branded as the father of Taliban.
Afghan Ambassador Dr Omar Zakhilwal, who met Haq at his residence in Akora Khattak, arranged the phone conversation that lasted 36 minutes.
JUI-S spokesperson Maulana Yousaf Shah quoted Ghani as saying that many Taliban leaders, who had studied at the Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak, respected Haq as their teacher.
The president urged the cleric to use his clout with the Taliban and persuade them to resume the long-stalled peace dialogue. He hoped the JUI-S leader would work for ending the bloodshed in Afghanistan.
“Haq told the president that peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan was a must and it was the responsibility of the unity government to play an active role in ending conflict,” the party spokesman told reporters.
The Afghan people, government and Taliban were all responsible for driving foreign invaders and ending the occupation of their homeland, the religious scholar remarked.
Haq reportedly said Afghanistan would have to resist pressures from external powers, particularly the US, to achieve a political settlement.
Last month, Zakhilwal met senior Pashtoon political leaders in Islamabad and wooed them into cooperating with Kabul’s peace push. A second meeting is expected to take place in the near future.
Concerned at the lingering tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Haq is learnt to have established contact with some Taliban leaders to encourage them to join the peace process. (Pajhwok)