PESHAWAR, Oct 26: The nationalist parties have held the “ill-conceived and flawed policies” of the government responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the country.

In separate press releases on Friday, the Awami National Party and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party expressed their concerns over the law and order situation obtaining in the country and said the rulers had no justification to rule the country.

The government and intelligence agencies were fanning militancy in Swat, ANP’s central information secretary Zahid Khan said. The situation in Swat was in the knowledge of the government but no action was taken to deal effectively with the problem.

He wondered how and why had Maulana Fazlullah left his place for an undisclosed destination when security forces reached there. “Who is providing financial assistance to the cleric?” he asked

The ANP condemned the attacks on music and barber shops, he said. He also appealed to the Pakhtuns to stand up against the conspiracy hatched by their opponents.

PMAP’s provincial chief Mukhtiar Khan Yousafzai said the Pakhtuns were kept backward deliberately and were deprived of their political, economic and cultural rights under a well-planned conspiracy.

He said the Pakhtun nation had given matchless sacrifices for democracy and only a few of them were being used by the agencies against their own people.

He warned that the ongoing spate of terrorism in the Pakhtun areas could enrage the people there to take up arms for their protection.