Suicide bomber sold for Rs2m, says Pakistani minister

PESHAWAR (PAN’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province has said that a suicide bomber can be purchased for Rs2 million ($21,883) in his country.

Peace could elude Pakistan without stability in Afghanistan, Mian Iftikhar Hussain told a two-day meeting of journalists arranged by the Mediothek Community Centre Afghanistan (MCCA) in Peshawar late on Wednesday.

Also holding the portfolios of culture, transport and inter-provincial coordination, Hussain called on reporters to work for promoting peace and national sovereignty. Journalists could play an effective role in helping stabilise the region, he believed.

“A suicide bomber is sold in the Waziristan tribal region for Rs2 million. It depends on the buyer how he uses the bomber — to kill Muslims or non-Muslims,” the KPK minister remarked.

He called for the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan to work on a joint counterterrorism strategy for bringing peace to the region. He characterised killers and terrorists as the enemies of humanity.

“The US is dominating in our region, because our jihad.

While insisted that dialogue was the only way to end the decade-long war in Afghanistan, he condemned the Taliban for simultaneously holding peace talks with the US in Qatar and killing their own people. He said peace could not be achieved separate parleys.

Drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal belt are helping in promoting terrorism in the region, according to the minister. He urged regional countries not to differentiate among terrorists, who posed a threat to the whole world and impeded peace efforts in the two countries.

myn/mud

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