“It is hoped that representatives of the Taliban and former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hikmatyar Khan will attend the next jirga,” MNA Munir Khan Orakzai told Gulf Times on Wednesday, referring to the Pak-Afghan jirga scheduled for November.He said credible sources had indicated that the Taliban and other militant groups were ready to sit down and talk. He said a lasting solution to the “growing menace of Talibanisation” could only be achieved after taking all concerned parties, including the Taliban, into confidence.
He said the locals in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan were responding favourably to the application of democratic principles in the region. He said the common man in Pakistan usually resorts to parallel systems such as jirgas for speedy justice because the judicial system in Pakistan is painstakingly slow and the police are a “cultural villain”.