ISLAMABAD: Awami National Party (ANP) president Asfandyar Wali Khan on Monday called for implementing the recommendations mentioned in the report of the inquiry commission headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa on the terrorist attack on a government hospital in Quetta in which more than 60 lawyers died.

In a statement issued by the party’s information secretary Zahid Khan on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Quetta incident, the ANP chief also called for implementing the National Action Plan against terrorism which had been prepared by all political parties of the country with consensus after the terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar.

Mr Khan was of the view that terrorism could be eradicated only through the implementation of the Qazi Faez Isa report in letter and spirit.

He lauded the lawyers’ community for their struggle for the cause of sanctity of the bar and the bench despite facing such tragedies. He said the sacrifices rendered by the lawyers’ community so far in the wake of terrorism in the country would not go in vain.

The ANP chief said the terrorists had eliminated a whole generation of the lawyers in the bloody attack. He said some “conspirators” were still active in the region to destroy peace. He termed the terrorist attack on the lawyers in Quetta one of the biggest tragedies suffered by the country.

On Aug 8, 2016, terrorists struck a government hospital in Quetta where a large number of lawyers had gathered after an attack on Bilal Anwar Kasi, the president of the Balochistan Bar Association at the time.

Taking a suo motu notice, the Supreme Court constituted an inquiry commission under Justice Qazi Faez Isa and the 110-page report of the commission containing some 18 recommendations was published in December 2016.

“The people of Pakistan have been subjected to sustained terrorist attacks, which continue unabated, and deserve answers. Those who have failed the people of Pakistan need to be held accountable. Things cannot go on as they have been. Without top-tier accountability, it is unlikely systemic change will be possible,” stated the report, urging the state to re-exert itself against those spreading hatred and murder.

It also urged the state to strictly abide by the laws, such as the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), the National Counter-Terrorism Authority Act, the Pakistan Penal Code, and, above all, the Constitution of Pakistan.

The report suggested that the ATA “needs to be enforced, and terrorists/terrorist organisations must be proscribed without delay. They must not be permitted to hold meetings. Those claiming to be members of proscribed organisations should be prosecuted in accordance with the ATA.”

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2022