CHARSADDA: Awami National Party (ANP) president Senator Aimal Wali Khan has said that failure to provide justice to the victims of the August 8, 2016, Quetta bombing even after a decade raised questions about the government’s response to terrorism.

In a statement, Mr Khan paid tribute to the lawyer including Bilal Anwar Kasi, Baz Mohammad Kakar and Askar Khan Achakzai who lost their lives in the suicide bombing.

He described the incident as an attack not only on the legal fraternity but also on the Constitution, rule of law, judiciary and the country’s justice system.

The ANP leader said the judicial commission constituted to investigate the August 8 tragedy had raised important questions, implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and measures to counter terrorism.

He questioned the extent to which the commission’s recommendations has been implemented and demanded an explanation for the continued failure to fully implement the NAP.

Mr Khan said the prevailing security situation showed that no lessons were learnt from past mistakes.

He said terrorism had assumed a dangerous form in areas where people had already paid a heavy price in the war against terrorism.

He pointed out that police and security personnel, political workers, lawyers, religious scholars and civilians continued to be targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

“The people of these regions cannot be subjected to further experiments and failed policies,” he said.

Mr Khan said the ANP lost hundreds of its workers in the fight against terrorism and reiterated that terrorism could not be accepted “under any name, pretext or justification”.

He said there could be no distinction between “good and bad terrorists” and no room for political expediency in dealing with terrorists.

“Terrorism cannot be defeated through press conferences and statements. It requires a clear, consistent and indiscriminate policy,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2026