Terror deaths mount yet NACTA sees no ‘serious threat’ to polls

• PM Mulk announces day of mourning on Sunday over deadly terror attacks in Mastung, Peshawar and Bannu in which at least 154 have been martyred
• Army chief attends Siraj Raisani’s funeral in Mastung, vows to step up crackdown on terrorists
• Lashkari Raisani calls for formation of truth commission to investigate deadly attack on his brother

ISLAMABAD:  Even though at least 154 people have been martyred and scores of others injured in three separate terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces in the past five days, the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) on Saturday ‘assured’ the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that there was no “serious threat” to the general elections scheduled for July 25.

The assurance comes amid an announcement of Interim Prime Minister Justice (r) Nasirul Mulk calling on the entire nation to observe a “day of mourning” on Sunday over the recent terrorist attacks in the two provinces.

Speaking to media after briefing the ECP, NACTA National Coordinator Dr Salman Khan asserted there is no serious threat to the 2018 general elections and reiterated that the polls will be held on the scheduled date.

He said the NACTA would go all out to ensure peaceful elections across the country.

A day earlier, the ECP had summoned Dr Salman to appear before it to give a detailed briefing over security threats being faced by electoral candidates.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Balochistan and KP. He issued directives to the caretaker governments to ensure the security of candidates and a peaceful and favourable atmosphere for elections.

Political parties have already demanded better security to ensure they can freely conduct their election campaigns.

Apprised of the threat to his own campaign, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced suspending political activities across the country in solidarity with the victims of recent terror attacks.

“120 people are dead in Balochistan; each one of them have families. What would they think when they see me chanting slogans in rallies. I could never do that,” Bilawal told a presser in Peshawar.

Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Quetta on Saturday to attend the funeral prayers of Nawab Siraj Raisani. The provincial assembly candidate and brother of former Balochistan chief minister Aslam Raisani was laid to rest in Kanak, Mastung.

COAS General Bajwa also visited the injured of the blast being treated at CMH in Quetta.

Talking on the occasion, the army chief vowed to crackdown on terrorists with full might. He vowed that all efforts would be made to secure the elections.

TRUTH COMMISSION:

Furthermore, Siraj Raisani’s brother on Saturday called for the formation of a truth commission to investigate the attack.

While talking to media, Lashkari Raisani demanded the formation of a truth commission to investigate all government made policies dating back to General Ziaul Haq’s time period.

“Those who make policies are responsible and answerable. These [terrorist attacks] are a consequence of incorrect policies,” he said.

“If the [policy-makers] genuinely shared in our grief, they would have reversed their policies. But they didn’t. We are still burying our dead.”

“I demand a truth commission, not a reconciliation commission, but a truth commission to investigate [the incidents],” he added.

DAY OF MOURNING:

Meanwhile, an official announcement from the PM’s office said,”In view of tragic incidents of terrorist attacks at Peshawar on July 10 and in Mastung and Bannu on July 13, 2018, the federal government has announced to observe one day official mourning throughout the country” on Sunday.

It said that the national flag will fly at half mast on Sunday to mourn the deaths of nearly 154 people in the recent terrorist attacks ahead of the general elections.

NACTA had on July 9 named six politicians, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Awami National Party (ANP) and Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chiefs, who are under threat of terrorist attacks.

On July 10, ANP candidate from PK-78 Peshawar, Haroon Bilour, and 21 others were killed in an attack targeting the party’s election meeting in Yakatoot area of the city.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had also claimed responsibility of the killing of his father Bashir Bilour in 2012, claimed responsibility of the attack.

On July 13, the convoy of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) candidate from NA-35 Bannu came under attack. While former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, who had also been named in NACTA list, remained safe in the attack, four of his supporters lost their lives.

Later in the afternoon, a powerful bomb blast targeted a meeting of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate from PB-35 Mastung, Nawabzada Siraj Raisani. Raisani and at least 128 others were killed in the attack, while over 200 were injured.

The Mastung attack was the deadliest terror attack in the country since the attack on Army Public School Peshawar in 2014 stunned the nation.

Other attacks on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and PTI election campaigns in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have injured several others since the beginning of this month.