PESHAWAR: Students of the University of Peshawar (UoP) from Balochistan on Wednesday staged a protest demonstration against the suicide bombing of a police training centre in Quetta.

They demanded effective enforcement of the National Action Plan for checking bloodshed in the country.

The protesters gathered on the Sher Shah Suri Road outside the Peshawar Press Club holding placards inscribed with slogans for the early arrest of those behind Quetta carnage.

Balochistan Students Association president Umar Babar and general secretary Fazal Amin led the protest.

Mr. Babar told reporters that Balochistan government had miserably failed to maintain law and order in the province.

He said other parts of Balochistan in general and Quetta in particular had become hub of terrorism.

The student leader said in August, a suicide bomber had targeted lawyers and that the incident was on the people’s mind but the anti-state elements targeted the police’s training center this time around killing around 70 personnel.

He said the massacre of Pakhtuns should be stopped and that the government should enforce the National Action Plan in letter and spirit otherwise bloodshed would continue.

Mr. Babar also appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Army chief General Raheel Sharif and federal government to ensure the immediate arrest and punishment of the people behind Quetta killings.

He said the people of Balochistan had heavily suffered in the last many years due to terrorism.

“If the government fails to check terrorism, the people will be left with no option but to come onto the streets against it,” he warned.

Published in Dawn October 27th, 2016