KARACHI, Oct 26: The Pakistan People’s Party has condemned the act of terrorism in Swat that killed 20 soldiers and left over 35 injured.
“The Swat valley has been under an intense grip of violence for the past many months due to the weakening writ of the state and the growing influence of Maulana Fazlullah, representing a banned sectarian outfit, who is out to impose his brand of ‘Shariah’ in the region”, said the PPP’s central information secretary, Sherry Rehman, here on Friday.
“Through his notorious FM channel, Fazlullah has spread fear and disinformation in the region, stopping people from sending their children to schools and bringing an essential polio vaccination campaign to a halt by declaring it against Islam,” she claimed.
She said that these violent attempts to coerce people in the name of religion must stop. Efforts to nab him had failed because of the provincial government’s reluctance to check Talibanization of the area, added Ms Rehman.
It was only early this week that the caretaker government in the NWFP facilitated the deployment of 2,500 troops in Swat and Thursday’s attack came just a day after the military moved in to control the area.
She said that the death toll, as a result of violence in the region during the last ten months, had reached a figure of over 60 while over 140 had been injured.
The PPP leader was of the view that had the issue of extremism been tackled earlier and not swept under the carpet, such elements would never have had gained strength in the region.
“It’s the government’s responsibility to provide security to the people. No government in the world allows its citizens to become hostage to the whims of extremists,” she said.
Meanwhile, government sources claimed on Friday that the clashes that had erupted between the security forces and militants in the region earlier in the day had stopped.
