PESHAWAR: Awami National Party has termed the fresh wave of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a result of government’s failure to implement National Action Plan in real sense.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, ANP central senior vice president MNA Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour held federal government responsible for deteriorating law and order situation.

He said that Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, India and Bangladesh should sit together to devise a combined strategy against terrorism. He said that with effective steps and mutual cooperation, those countries could also control poverty, price hike and unemployment in the region.

Flanked by ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain and provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak, Mr Bilour described Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami as friends of Taliban and asked the leaders of those parties to talk to Taliban for restoration of peace in the province.

ANP leader Bilour terms PTI, JI friends of Taliban

“Mumtaz Qadri was sentenced by a court in Punjab and hanged inside a prison in the same province but terrorists took its revenge from Pakhtuns which is astonishing,” said the ANP leader. He added that different parties held rallies against hanging of a person across the country but remained silent on killing of 20 people in Shabqadar blast.

He said that people of Punjab were lucky as they were safe because only Pakhtuns, their women, children and senior citizens were killed ruthlessly. He said that Taliban were targeting innocent people, mostly those who had not sufficient resources to earn livelihood.

About emergence of Punjabi Taliban, the ANP leader said that security forces launched action in Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Provincially Administered Tribal Areas but there were no Punjabi Taliban in Fata and settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“ANP has offered matchless sacrifices in the ongoing war against terrorism, but we are still unable to get due rights and share,” Mr Bilour said. He criticised the provincial government for its failure to get due rights for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and mitigate miseries of the terrorism-affected people.

He said that the mandate of ANP was given to PTI and JI in the 2013 general elections but those parties failed to resolve problems of people in the province.

Mr Bilour said that ANP would not tolerate more bloodshed, extortion and targeted killings on Pakhtuns’ soil. The government must take proactive steps for ensuring protection of life and property of people.

“If government is unable to provide adequate security to people, then it should step down immediately. We are much concerned about the increasing killings of innocent people in the fresh spate of terrorism,” he said.

Mr Bilour castigated both provincial and federal government for their failure to bringing stability and peace in tribal regions, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of country. He said that government had made claims to clear most of areas of militants during operation Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan Agency but terrorists were still attacking people.

The ANP said that situation would have been different if National Action Plan was implemented in letter and spirit.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2016