The parents of victims of Army Public School (APS) attack held a protest demonstration against government officials including Prime Minister’s Imran Khan’s statements suggesting that Pakistan is ready to pardon Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Parents of the schoolchildren massacred in 2014 were holding photos of their slain children at the protest held outside Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.
The protestors criticised President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad — who had all suggested pardoning the Taliban.
The protestors were of the opinion that the Taliban have shedded innocent blood and they do not deserve to be forgiven.
Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that the Pakistan government is in talks with ‘some groups’ of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), adding that Pakistan will forgive them and they will become ‘normal citizens’ if the talks succeed.
The PM added that these negotiations are taking place in Afghanistan. Imran Khan issued these remarks in an interview with Turkish news channel TRT World.
“In fact, some of the Taliban groups actually want to talk to the Pakistan government for reconciliation and peace,” he said.
When the interviewer asked if the government was in talks with the TTP, the PM replied, “Well, some of them. There are different groups that form the TTP. So we are in talks with some of them.”
When asked what the talks were about, the PM said that the discussions were about the ‘reconciliation process’.
The PM’s statement generated a backlash with people wondering why the parliament was not being taken into confidence over talks with the banned group.
