On January 20, Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while visiting the victims of the R. A. Bazaar blasts as they were being treated at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi, issued a statement that even within nine months of assuming power, the government had not tackled the menace of terrorism. He said it seemed that the government was not serious enough to deal with the terrorism crisis.
On September 6, during the All Parties Conference, leaders gave the government a mandate to have a dialogue with the Taliban. However, the indifferent attitude of the government was resulting in the killing of innocent people.
Khan, while talking to media outside CMH, said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif must tell the nation about its plans to uproot terrorism.
Pakistan Muslim League-N Member of National Assembly Haji Ashraf told Truth Tracker that the government was fully committed to bringing peace to Pakistan, and for the same reason, his party was supporting the negotiations with the banned Tehrik Taliban Pakistan. He said the government had taken initiative with the negotiations by forming the committee, which was entrusted to have talks with the Taliban.
Without resolving the issue of terrorism, he claimed, Pakistan could not move ahead because the foreign investors would not come here because of the security situation.
He said Imran Khan had also been taken into confidence by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the efforts being made to eliminate terrorism in Pakistan.
Pakistan Peoples’ Party, MNA Khawaja Ghulam Rasool Koreja, expressed his satisfaction with the government efforts to obliterate terror from Pakistan.
While talking to Truth Tracker, he said the government was taking credible steps to bring the terrorists to the dialogue table. He said war was not the solution to any issue and that the country’s difficult situation demanded that every citizen do his or her part to bring peace to the country.
He said the government had no option but to dialogue with the TTP because a military operation against such elements would trigger more violence in the country.
The Pakistan Peoples’ Party MNA said Pakistan could have a war like the US-Vietnam War if the government and TTP left the dialogue process in the lurch.
Muttahida Qaumi Movemen’s MNA Abdul Rashid Godil, while criticizing Khan, said that after the 18th Amendment the provinces were directly responsible for Pakistan’s security situation. He said that instead of criticizing the government, Imran Khan should do something to control terrorism in KPK, which was being ruled by the PTI.
“The people of KPK are living in a hell-like situation because of the repeated incidents of terrorism that have killed countless people in a decade.”
Imran Khan could not betray the KPK people by criticizing the federal government, he added.
Ashraf Iqbal Zahidi, the Head of the Mass Communication Department, Government College University Faisalabad, told Truth Tracker that the government had been moving in the right direction to root out the trend of terrorism in Pakistan. He said the country did not have any other option. “The failure of dialogue will land Pakistan (God forbid) in an outlandish situation. Leaders like Munawar Hassan, the Chief of Jamat Islam, and Fazal-ur-Rehman, head of JUI-F, would be with the Taliban if talks remain inconclusive.” Substantiating his claim, he said they had been running countless seminaries in Pakistan that would be used in favour of the Taliban. “People will face an Afghanistan-like situation in Pakistan in the name of implementing the Sharia,” he said.
Truth Tracker is of the view that government is trying to control terrorism through dialogue and other means, therefore, Truth Tracker finds Imran’s statement to be mostly false.
April 18, 2014
March 14, 2014
March 13, 2014
March 13, 2014
|