Awami National Party (ANP) central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain has called on the authorities to take notice of the resurgence of terrorist groups, following the murder of two police officers in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Visiting the families of both of the slain police officers, Fayyaz Khan and Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, on Friday, the ANP secretary urged the government to counter the rising terrorism across the country, voicing doubt that the government could manage ‘pragmatic steps’ to stop the violence.
“Had the government implemented the National Action Plan in real sense the terrorists would have never dared to regroup,” he said, referring to terrorist attacks in Bajuar, Waziristan and Balochistan.
The senior ANP member added that the increase in terrorist attacks in KP, particularly those against police officers, would further worsen the morale of police personnel and security forces, as well as general unrest among the population.
Two policemen were martyred and one more injured in a gunfire attack on a police check post in Nowshera on Thursday. Three unidentified armed men got out of their car at the check point and opened fire on the policemen, before driving away.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has been criticized for not following the National Action Plan (NAP) by opposition members in the past who say that the rising incidents of terrorism in recent week are due in part to ineffective implementation of the NAP.
The NAP was established in 2015 by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) government to clamp down on terrorism in the country and support anti-terrorism offensives in the area now known as the tribal districts of KP.
