Dozens of civil society activists and residents of Balkh province established a sit-in camp on Thursday, calling on militants to end violence and join peace.

The peace campaigners called on the United Nations to put more pressure on Pakistan and add the country to terrorism financing list.

They said peace is a common demand by all Afghans and that anyone who impedes this process will be deemed as enemies of the country.

“Establishing such a camp means that people from all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan should raise their voice for peace and do a similar act and should say that Afghanistan is belonged to every Afghans in any part of the country,” said Najib Paikan, a civil society activist.

“I think that it is the time to build our homeland and reach to the final decision that war is not benefiting Afghanistan. Anyone from any address who wants to encourage us for war are wrong and are following interests of other countries,” said Abdul Hamid Safwat, head of civil society organizations in Balkh.

Other participants of the sit-in camp stressed the need to seek ways for ending war and ensuring a lasting peace in the country.

“We have established this camp to support peace. We want to convey the message to all Afghans that the Afghan nation has awakened,” said Afzal Hadid, head of Balkh provincial council.

“When I realized about the Helmand sit-in camp, I had a dream to go to Helmand and join the peace campaign. Now I am excited that a similar camp was established here (in Balkh). I promise as a women’s rights activist to join and support this move along with other women in the province,” said Nilofar, a women’s rights activist in Balkh.

This move comes weeks after a number of Helmand residents established a sit-in camp in Lashkargah City in support of peace. The move later gained huge support from across the country.

The Balkh activists said they have established the camp to support peace and the protest in Helmand.