PESHAWAR: Awami National Party leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said the country has failed to curb terrorism despite a National Action Plan and called for more effective strategy to eliminate the menace once and for all.

In a statement issued from Bacha Khan Markaz on Tuesday where the ANP held a condolence reference to mourn the killing of 70 persons in suicide bombing in Quetta, he condemned the attack on innocent people. He said terrorist attacks showed that the government needed to review its policies as such strikes were fallout of the ‘failed’ foreign policy of the government.

A large number of party leaders and workers held prayers for the innocent souls killed in the Quetta hospital bombing. The ANP was standing by the bereaved families of the victims, he said, adding if the government did not review its policies it could lead to more such disasters. If there were still more than 70 banned outfits active in Punjab province, how one could expect peace in the country.

The presence of such outfits active with different names is also one reason NAP was not bearing any fruitful results in entire country, he observed.

Mr Hussain said the government should take action against militants without any discrimination.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2016