Militants’ return: ANP to move court against ‘facilitators,’ says Aimal

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) on Thursday decided to move the Supreme Court of Pakistan against those who had facilitated the return and resettlement of militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under so-called peace talks.

“We had opposed the so-called peace talks, led by the spokesperson for the provincial government, with a proscribed militant organisation in Kabul,” said ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan while addressing a news conference at Bacha Khan Markaz here.

He said that the ANP would plead to the SCP to constitute a judicial commission against those who had facilitated and brought back the hardcore militants to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan.

Aimal Wali blamed former prime minister and chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan, president of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi, former chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehmood Khan and former spokesperson of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif for holding and facilitating what he called unconstitutional and minus-parliament talks with the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The ANP leader said that the federal government and foreign ministry should initiate such steps after approval and discussion in parliament but the previous PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had taken the step on the behest of someone else. He claimed that about 40,000 militants had come back to Pakistan from neighbouring Afghanistan after the so-called peace talks with Pakistani Taliban in Kabul.

Wearing a police cap, Aimal Wali Khan said that the ANP had condemned terrorist attacks on a mosque in Peshawar Police Lines and announced three days of mourning to show solidarity with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police.

He said that the militants wanted to demoralise the Khyber Police through their cowardly attacks on police posts, police vans and police stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the workers of the ANP would stand with its forces against terrorism on the Pakhtun soil.

“Those who had facilitated and re-settled the militants had adopted meaningful silence over the recent bloodshed and had not dared to visit and inquire about the injured and those had martyred in police lines mosque attack in Peshawar,” he said and added that the ANP would fully participate in the Olasi Pasoon in Peshawar on February 4.

“Our sacrifices against militancy are not hidden from anyone and we would stand side by side with our people and forces for lasting peace on our soil,” he said and added that the ANP had never compromised over its principle regarding peace and prosperity of the country.

To a question, the ANP leader said that the ANP had always opposed bloodshed, violence and gun culture in neighbouring Afghanistan and had declared the Afghan War a struggle between two superpowers. “Those who had celebrated the taking over of Kabul by the Taliban were also responsible for violence and militancy in Pakistan and the whole region,” Aimal Wali Khan added.

Flanked by ANP provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak and other ANP leaders, Aimal Wali Khan said that the ANP would convene Pashtun Qaumi Ittehad on February 6 in Peshawar to devise further strategy against the fresh wave of terrorism and militancy in the province.