Herat, Bamyan activists join peace push

 

Monitoring Desk

HEART/BAMYAN: Residents of western Herat and central Bamyan provinces on Wednesday emerged on streets in support of the peace push initiated by the insurgency-hit residents of southern Helmand province.

Youth, including women, have erected separate tents over the past two weeks in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, to demand peace after a car bomb attack killed 16 people and injured 55 others in the city.

In western Herat City, Tor Mohammad Zarifi, a tribal elder, who took part in the sit-in, said: “The war has intensified to a record level and mostly civilians are suffering casualties. The security forces, the government and the Taliban should reconcile.”

The victims of the car suicide bombing in Lashkargah included children who were watching a wrestling match.

Faqir Ahmad Bayangar, a resident of Herat City, said: “We have been tired of the war and now want peace and stability in the country because peace is every Afghan’s dream.”

He declared his support for the peace movement of Helmandis and urged the Taliban to renounce violence and join the reconciliation process. Syed Ashraf Sadat, a civil society activist, said: “If citizens raise their voice for peace in a determined manner, it can lead to peace between the government and Taliban.”

In Bamyan City, civil society activists held a protest gathering in support of the peace movement of Helmand residents and urged all the countrymen to swing behind the campaign for peace.

Civil society activist Ismail Zaki told the gathering that the people of Afghanistan could no longer tolerate the bloodshed and want to live in peace.

He asked the warring parties to resolve their difference through talks because the war — if continued for 100 more years — would bring nothing but destruction.

In their resolution letter, the Bamyanis urged the United Nations to support the peace movement in Helmand.