Senators worried over fresh wave of terrorism in KP

As the Senate prayed for those killed in Thursday’s bombing in a Peshawar seminary on Friday, lawmakers in the Upper House of Parliament expressed serious concerns over fresh terrorism wave in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and asked the federal government to play its role in bringing normalcy to the province.
Senators belonging to the Awami National Party and Pakistan People’s Party drew the attention of the federal government towards this situation as they expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the PTI-led provincial government in KP.
“Are we here to offer fateha only, who will secure the citizens,” said ANP Senator Haji Adeel. He claimed that after the sunset Lashkar-e-Islam and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan rule even the areas adjacent to Peshawar Ring Road.
During the All Parties Conference, it was decided to talk to the TTP and the prime minister had also made a request to religious leaders to hold dialogue with the TTP.
“Therefore, Fazlur Rehman, Imran Khan, Samiul Haq and Munawar Hasan should talk to TTP within the ambit of the constitution and the resolution of the APC. We assure them to accept the result of negotiations within the said ambit. Otherwise, second option should be adopted,” he said.
Khan said people were being killed every day in KP. He urged the federal government to do something about such killings if it felt that the provincial government was not doing enough or failed to bring meaningful results.
PPP Senator Rehman Malik expressed concerns over the situation and said the TTP terrorists were trying to get some space in the name of dialogue and hoodwink the nation and the government.
He praised the government’s efforts to initiate dialogue with the TTP and said Nawaz Sharif had shown open-heartedness by asking clerics to negotiate with the TTP.
He, however, warned of bloodshed in the coming days and questioned, “Why we are failing, we need to diagnose. Let the Senate realise the situation. Why Imran Khan and Munawar Hasan do not talk to Taliban as they had always been supporting a dialogue?”
Malik said TTP chief Fazlullah was operating from Kunar province of Afghanistan. When the FIR was registered against Fazlullah in SP Chaudhry Aslam’s murder case, the Kunar governor should have also been nominated in it.