Darel Valley’s elders and notables pledge to fight against militants, request arms from govt

BY NISAR ALI

ISLAMABAD: Clerics and notables of Darel Valley, through a resolution, on Monday have urged the government to provide them arms for dislodging the terrorist from their region.

The resolution was passed during a public meeting held in the wake of the burning of schools in the area.

The local elders, while demanding strict punishment for the terrorists, urged the government to provide them arms and ammunition, because they want to take part in the ‘cleanup operation’, physically.

The meeting was attended by prominent leaders, Rehmat Khaliq, Addul Ghaffar of Pakistan Peoples Party and PML-N leader Haider Khan.

The locals strongly condemned the attacks on the schools. “This is not an attack on the buildings, but on the future of our children, and region”.

“Any non-state actor, who are involved in recent incident and societal exploitation, should be held accountable, and we [Public] are ready to support the security and law enforcement agencies to kick out the miscreants from the region,” read the resolution.

“We are ready to fight with full energy against the miscreants if the government allows and facilitates us with arms,” the resolution read, adding that an Awami Committee wsa ready to help the government for arresting the terrorist and suspects who are believed to be involved in such criminal acts.

They also requested the government to respect the common citizen during the on-going operation.