PESHAWAR: Awami National Party provincial president Aimal Wali Khan on Thursday moved Peshawar High Court, requesting it to constitute a high-powered facts finding committee to probe the issue of “process of militants resettlement,” which resulted in serge of acts of terrorism in the country.

He filed a petition in the high court, requesting that a stipulated time should be given to the facts finding committee to complete the probe as most of the facts had already been admitted by the respondents.

The petitioner also requested the court that once the inquiry was completed, the facts finding report should be made public. He sought directives of court for the respondents including the federal and provincial government to stop the process of “settling back of terrorists” in his homeland.

The petition is filed through advocates Babar Khan Yousafzai and Khizar Hayat Khazana.

Aimal Wali says he is on hit list of terrorists for his political stance

The respondents in the petition are President of Pakistan, former prime minister and chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through its chief secretary, former chief minister Mahmood Khan, former special assistant to chief minister Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) retired Lt Gen Faiz Hameed and federal government through interior minister.

The petitioner claimed that due to his political stance for the betterment, harmony and peace for the people of the country, he was on the hit list of terrorist organisations. He claimed that in that regard, two would-be suicide attackers belonging to Mohmand and Bajaur districts were arrested.

The petitioner stated that as a consequence to strong stance by the ancestors of ANP regarding eradication of terrorism, the party sacrificed thousands of political workers. He added that army and police, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, played a vital role in restoring peace at the cost of their lives.

He claimed that constant statements kept coming from the office of the then prime minister Imran Khan and Barrister Saif regarding the resettlement of trained militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

He said that he along with his party leadership and workers had constantly opposed the policy related to relocation of terrorists into Pakistani territory. He claimed that the President of Pakistan had also confirmed his involvement in granting immunity to 102 terrorists and that fact was also reported in the media.

Similarly, the “process of relocation of militants” was not possible without the support of the former chief of ISI, he said.

The petitioner has also annexed several press reports along with the petition related to peace talks between the government and the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and the release of some hardcore militants from custody by the security agencies during those negotiations.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023