ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: The outgoing year saw a 30 per cent drop in terrorist and sectarian incidents against the previous year, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said on Tuesday.

“The decline is welcome but not satisfactory as the government is determined to eliminate these evils completely,” he told reporters. He said the decrease was the result of government’s unwavering policy and effective measures.

Mr Sherpao was speaking to reporters after presenting compensation cheques to the families of those killed in the Bari Imam shrine suicide attack in May and to the people injured in that incident.

The family of each of the 16 who were killed in the Bari Imam attack received Rs100,000 while each of the 42 injured was given Rs30,000.

He said the culprits involved in the shrine attack had been arrested. He said that 65 per cent of foreign students of Madressahs in the country had returned to their home countries while the remaining would also be sent back with the consent of the religious schools’ managements.—APP