by Imran Ayub in Dawn, January 6th, 2023
KARACHI: Calling PTI chief Imran Khan “a frontman for terrorists”, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday accused the former premier of following an appeasement policy during his tenure that the PPP chairman said resulted in militants’ resurgence.
The foreign minister even warned his own government in the Centre, saying his party would not allow any such strategy and talks with militants “behind parliament’s back”.
Speaking at a press conference after the party’s central executive committee (CEC) meeting at Bilawal House, the PPP chairman was clear about the future strategy of his party while being a key ally of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government and suggested that multiple challenges emerging one after another demanded a new code of conduct for all political parties.
He referred to “serious concerns” within his party over the tottering economy and announced a committee of PPP leaders that would take them up with the federal government.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari touched on a range of issues and spoke candidly about the challenge of terrorism, the ongoing economic crisis, and his current relations with another ally in the Centre, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), which earlier this week announced a Jan 9 protest against PPP over disagreements on local government elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.
“Imran Khan, as a frontman for terrorists while being the prime minister, took decisions against the country’s security,” he said in response to a question about growing criticism of his government amid growing militant attacks in different parts of the country.
While in office, Mr Khan “released all the terrorists, including those who were involved in [the Dec 2014] attack on the Army Public School”, the foreign minister alleged.
Then Mr Khan “helped them leave the country. Only last year, he was inviting those [militants] living in Afghanistan to return and live like normal citizens of this country. That’s what we are reaping today”, he said……
https://www.dawn.com/news/1730184/bilawal-warns-against-talks-with-militants
- AF-PAK SCENE – BORDER – FIRING
Border guard injured in firing at Torkham
Report in Dawn, January 6th, 2023
KHYBER: A Pakistani border security guard was injured in an ‘accidental firing’ from across the border at Torkham here on Thursday.
Though local security officials did not furnish any formal details of the incident, independent sources, however, said that an Afghan national was killed and a Pakistani border security guard sustained injuries when an Afghan border guard accidentally pulled the trigger of his official gun on their side of the border.
The incident caused panic among the guards on both sides of the border while the cross-border movement was also suspended for at least an hour.
The injured Pakistani border guard Sher Aziz was later shifted to the military hospital where doctors declared his condition to be stable. The border crossing was later reopened.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1730176/border-guard-injured-in-firing-at-torkham
