MARDAN: Federal Interior Mini­s­ter Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said here on Saturday that the four suicide bombers who stormed Pesha­war’s Christian Colony were foreigners, but it was yet to be ascertained which countries they belonged to.

He was speaking at a press briefing on the suicide attack on the Mardan district and sessions courts held at the office of the commissioner of Mardan.

“Terrorists are on the run, but their facilitators and financiers are hiding in the surrounding areas,” he said, adding that terrorists and their facilitators would be traced and the menace of terrorism would be eradicated.

He said Peshawar, Bannu, Mardan, Swabi and their adjacent areas were on the target of terrorists because most high-profile political leaders and other key personalities belonged to these districts.

Chaudhry Nisar claimed that the interior ministry had twice shared intelligence reports with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government regarding the attack on Mardan courts before its occurrence.

He said: “Terrorists hit soft targets for two reasons: one, they want to spread frustration among the public; and, two, they try to show their reaction against provincial and federal governments”.

He claimed that because of the Zarb-i-Azb military operation and stern military action against terrorists they were now unable to reach hard targets and that was why they were now trying to hit soft targets.

The minister said the lawyers’ community was the custodian of the Constitution and the law of Pakistan. “We will be neither frustrated nor frightened by such cowardly terrorists attack,” he maintained, adding that people would not close schools, courts and their businesses owing to fear of terrorism.

Answering a question, he said it had been said time and again that peace in Pakistan was linked to the restoration of peace in Afghanistan. The two countries needed to boost unity and coordination among themselves instead of criticising each other, he added.

He urged the nation to be united for the sake of eradicating the hidden enemy, adding that the countrymen should back institutions of Pakistan so that this psychological war against terrorists could be won.

The minister claimed that the security situation had improved and the occurrence of terrorist attacks had reduced to a great extent. He pointed out that Pakistani institutions had won a very difficult war, but still much was to be done in that connection.

When contacted, Mardan district police officer Faisal Shehzad said that they had been receiving intelligence alerts on a routine basis. He said there was no specific intelligence alert to the police department about the Mardan court attack.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2016