PESHAWAR: Awami National Party has condemned the bomb blast inside a mosque in Peshawar and demanded of the government to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) in real sense to control increasing incidents of terrorism in the country.
Speaking at a press conference at Bacha Khan Markaz here on Wednesday, party’s provincial spokesperson MPA Samar Haroon Bilour accused the government of ignoring ANP’s warnings about regrouping of terrorists in different areas of the country.
Flanked by party’s information committee members, the spokesperson demanded of the government to include Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed in the investigation so as to know how he predicted terrorist acts in Quetta and Peshawar some days ago.
She suggested that the government should convene a joint meeting of all relevant stakeholders to devise an effective plan for controlling terrorist acts in future. She also demanded proper compensation package for the victims’ families and treatment of the wounded.
The ANP leader also condemned the blasphemous caricatures appearing in France and said such acts were meant to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. She said the government should take appropriate measures in this regard.
Samar Bilour urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to fulfil his commitments about creation of 10 million jobs and construction of millions of houses for the people.
She condemned the sacking of 600 contractual employees of the University of Peshawar and 749 of Radio Pakistan and described the action as a glaring example of difference in words and deeds of the rulers.
She said that those holding protest rallies against their termination were sent behind bars, which was a clear violation of basic human rights.
The ANP spokesperson also demanded proper inquiry into reports of financial misappropriation and issuance of fake degrees by some of the public sector universities and stressed the need for focusing on improvement of educational institutions.
She called for allocation of sufficient funds to bring the universities out the existing crisis.
Other members of the party’s information committee referred to price hike and rising unemployment and asked the government to fulfil its election commitments.
Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020
