Consultative peace board not in parallel to HPC: Ghani

KABUL (HPC) members as part his consultative meetings on the peace process, a statement from the Presidential Palace said.

The statement said HPC chief Mohammad Karim Khalili, Qazi Mohammad Weqad and Asila Wardak talked on behalf of others in the meeting.

The HPC members welcomed the president’s decision of creating the Consultative Peace Board and presented information about the council’s activities to the president.

Later, President Ashraf Ghani praised the HPC efforts and said that the Consultative Peace Board would not be a parallel organization to the council.

“Our discussions and consultations are about preparations for intra-Afghan negotiations,” he said.

He said consultations were an important principle in religion and culture particularly in the national processes.

President Ghani has so far met with Jamiat-i-Islami leaders Salahuddin Rabbani, Atta Mohammad Noori, Ismail Khan, Younus Qanoni, and Hizb-i-Islami head Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jihadi and influential figures including Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf, Mohammad Mohaqiq, Mohammad Akbari and many other figures as part of his consultative meetings.

The government has the plan to form a committee of peace comprised of representatives from all 34 provinces. The committee would have 200 members with a 12-member board which would provide consultations to the government and the HPC about peace.

According to another report, the president also met with representatives of All Afghanistan Hazara Council of Sunnis about the peace process.

In the meeting, Haji Ghulam Sakhi Parsayee and Dr. MaskinKawi talked on behalf of the council representatives with the president and they backed the peace process and national and economic programs of the government.

They said Sunni Hazara people would use their knowledge and influence for paving the ground for intra-Afghan peace dialogues.

The president later thanked the council members for sharing their views and suggestions about the peace process and said a stable peace was one of the important demands of all Afghans and it was the government’s responsibility to cooperate with the public for achieving it.

mds/ma