Daily Times

KHYBER AGENCY: Tribesmen staged a protest demonstration at the Pak-Afghan border area of Torkham on Monday against US President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding Pakistan’s role in war on terror.

A large number of tribesmen, including tribal elders, political workers, students and members of the civil society, from all three tehsils of Khyber Agency participated in the protest rally.

The protesters while holding Pakistani flags and banners inscribed with slogan, like US policy unacceptable, marched from Charwazgai to Torkham border where the rally culminated into a public gathering.

Addressing the angry mob, speakers including Malik Darya Khan, Malik Wairs Khan Afridi, Maulana Shoab, Shahid Shinwari and Malik Doran Gul categorically rejected US President Donald Trump’s “irresponsible statement” against Pakistan and said that in the “alien war” Pakistan had suffered a lot economically as well as in human causalities.

They cautioned America to remember that Pakistan was an atomic power and was not Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq, therefore it should be treated differently. They said that Pakistan had rendered more sacrifices than the Americans in the war on terror.

“The US president is holding Pakistan responsible for their failures in Afghanistan,” they noted.

The speakers also urged the Afghan masses to compel their rulers not to let Afghan soil be utilized against Pakistan.

In the end, the protesters alit an effigy of US President Donald Trump and dispersed peacefully.

Earlier, traffic on the Pak-Afghan border was suspended for hours. Security sources said that the border closure came about as a preemptive step in light of the rally.

It is pertinent to mention here that last week, the US president while chalking out his new policy pertaining to Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for sheltering terror groups and destabilizing the region.

Published in Daily Times, August 29^th 2017.