PESHAWAR, May 29: The leaders of some political parties have expressed concern over the spate of bomb blasts in Peshawar and other parts of the province.

Opposition leaders also asked the provincial and federal governments to resign for what they called their failure to maintain law and order.

Awami National Party’s provincial chief Afrasiab Khattak in a statement on Tuesday condemned the bomb blasts in Bannu, Tank and Peshawar and expressed sympathies with the families of victims.

He said it was a pity that when people were busy collecting body parts of blasts’ victims the rulers, instead of fulfilling their responsibilities, were indulged in a blame game.

The ANP leader said that the price of confrontation between the federal and the NWFP governments was being paid by the innocent people of the province who are falling victim to bomb explosions.

He said that internal and external policies of the government had failed and brought the country on the verge of a civil war.

Condemning the bomb blast outside the Peshawar High Court, the PML-N secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, provincial president Pir Sabir Shah and former chief minister Mahtab Ahmad Khan said that the spate of bomb explosions in the NWFP had proved that the rulers had completely failed in maintaining the law and order situation.

They termed the growing violence a state-sponsored terrorism.

The PML-N leaders demanded that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should resign and hand over power to the elected representatives.

Criticising the government policies, they said that people were being killed in bomb explosions, but rulers had declared that all was fine.

In a statement, the provincial general secretary of the PPP (Sherpao), Sikandar Hayaty Khan, condemned the bomb blast outside the PHC building.

He said terrorists wanted to create panic and fear among the masses. He asked people to show solidarity.