ISLAMABAD, April 30: The Citizens’ Peace Committee (CPC) of the twin cities has condemned the recent attack on a religious congregation in Bhakkar and demanded that perpetrators of this crime should be arrested forthwith.

The CPC in a statement on Tuesday demanded that the government should finally follow up on its oft-repeated expressions of commitment to eliminating the extremist threat.

It also demanded immediate restoration of civil and political liberties.

An all-powerful military government must be capable of addressing extremism as well as its root causes, it maintained.

The CPC drew attention to what it called “a biased security policy” of the government. In the diplomatic enclave of Islamabad, the police introduced extremely strict security measures in the wake of the grenade attack on Protestant Church.

However, they failed to introduce similar measures in those areas which had also been witness to gruesome acts of violence but were populated by locals rather than foreigners, it said and added, the government seemed to regard the life of a foreigner as more valuable than the life of a Pakistani citizen.

The recent crackdown on political activity and harassment of political activists by intelligence personnel shows that the emphasis of the government’s law enforcement network is not on dealing with the extremist groups, the CPC contended.