KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Hundreds of people on Monday attended a gathering aimed at voicing support for security forces in southern Kandahar province.
Besides officials from different security organs, provincial government officials, provincial council members, religious scholars and tribal elders were in attendance.
Deputy governor Abdul Ali Shamsi, speaking on the occasion, praised the security forces for their bravery that had resulted in improved security in the province.
He said the security forces could maintain security in remote districts if local residents extended them support.
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The deputy governor said the Afghan forces were real defenders of the soil and the people of Afghanistan.
Shamsi urged religious scholars to counter fitwas imported to Afghanistan from outside. He also called on the insurgents to renounce violence and work for peace and stability in their country.
Kandahar provincial council chief Syed Jan Khakrezwal said security in Kandahar had improved as a result of people’s sacrifices and people were able to travel to far off areas.
He said hundreds of influential and prominent figures were lost to targeted killings in the past years, a situation that forced people to send their sons to join security forces and face the enemy.
He praised security forces, but said the forces should be careful during their operations in order innocent people were not harmed.
Religious scholar Maulvi Faizul Haq focused his speech on peace, saying it was the duty of religious scholars to pave the way for peace talks between the warring parties.
He mentioned many countries where people belonged to different religions but they lived in peace unlike Afghanistan.
He asked the government to show respect to religious scholars, who he said were treated like aliens.
Another cleric, Maulvi Mohammad Shah Agha, said every system in the world had both problems and advantages, but problems needed to be solved in a peaceful manner.
He called a good government as God’s blessing and urged the people to support the government, the system and security forces.
Kandahar Ulema Council head Maulvi Obaidullah Faizani also praised heroism of the Afghan security forces. “Under tough conditions, the Afghan security forces are discharging their official obligation day and night and they sacrifice their lives in order we civilians live in peace.”
He said a one-hour patrol at night to protect the soil and the people was better than 1,000 rakat of nafl prayers. He urged the people stand behind the security forces in the defence of the soil, the system and their own lives.
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