PAT Chairman Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that if the remote control of war against terrorism was handed over to those who forgot the blood of martyrs of APS tragedy, they would subject the blood of thousands of people to political interests. He demanded that action should first be taken against those who considered the war against terrorism as a joke for 17 long months, only then should it be followed by the next line of action. He said that action against negligent government officials should be part of the action plan.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri expressed these views while talking to different groups and delegations that called on him yesterday. He said that there is no difference between those elements who committed negligence with regard to implementation of NAP and the terrorists. He said that the Nawaz Government arranges meetings and security huddles due to pressure of the army, adding that if it would not bother to summon any meeting if it does not feel the heat. He said that the mindset which did not let the NAP be implemented for 17 months would not refrain from doing the same again. He said that the government is responsible for the killings in Model Town.

Dr Qadri said that whenever people die in incidents of terrorism, there is a talk of action plans all around. He said that the nation needs to be apprised as to who is the hurdle in the way of 100 percent execution of war against terrorism. He said that the delay in the launch of the Operation Zarb-e-Azb for one year resulted in the fleeing of big targets and now delaying tactics used in the implementation of the NAP have made the war on terror lengthy and complicated.

He said that the understanding of the government’s attitude vis-à-vis Protection of Pakistan Act is important in order to understand its mindset. He reminded that Protection of Pakistan Act was adopted and the special courts were to be established in order to summarily dispose of the terrorism cases. He said that a sun-set clause of two years was included with an ill-will. He said that the courts established under the Act were not provided with sufficient logistical support with the result that none of the 32 cases referred to the special courts has been decided, adding that legal future of the 32 referred cases does not appear to be promising.

The PAT Chairman said that PoPA has expired since July 15, 2016. He said that had there been requisite seriousness, either the expired Act would have been re-enacted or it should have been extended through a presidential Ordinance but there is no sign of interest on this count. He said that we are of the considered opinion that new plans should of course be made but it should be identified first as to why earlier plans failed to achieve their objectives. He said that responsibility should be fixed in this regard before moving forward.