THIS is with reference to your editorial of July 16 titled “Bloodbath in the run-up to polls”

We are disappointed that the editorial failed to make any mention of recent (and not-so-recent) statement by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on the issue of terrorism and extremism. He has called a spade a spade and in Malakand on July 15 said that the National Action Plan had not been implemented since it was introduced.

He has consistently said that the renewed violence and terrorist attacks have introduced a climate of fear in the run-up to the elections and that this is contributing to the clear absence of a level-playing field for all political parties, except one. Again, while condoling with the Raisanis in Quetta, he made it a point to publicly state that while “we had been told that the backbone of terrorists had been broken, the recent attacks had shown that that wasn’t the case”. He also said that the people of Pakistan were brave and would defeat terrorism with their vote.

Despite all these public remarks, it seemed a bit surprising that the editorial failed to make any mention of these. In fact, it went on to claim, quite inaccurately — in case of the PPP — that “most” political parties “have become well and truly complicit in co-opting extremist elements, with a proven capacity for violence, within their ranks”.

Media Consultant to PPP Chairman
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018