Daily Times

Expressing his grief at the martyrdom of five security personnel a day earlier during a security operation, former president Asif Ali Zardari said Sunday that complete implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) is the only solution for militants.

Four Frontier Corps soldiers and one Levies sub-inspector were martyred on Saturday during an operation at Spinwam.

“The cure for those who challenge the state’s writ is to bring down the nurseries of terrorism,” Zardari said in a statement issued on Sunday.

He underscored the need to deal with the terrorists, saying that they must be seen as enemies of the state.

Zardari also prayed for security forces personnel who were martyred a day earlier.

Opposition parties have been critical of the prime minister’s statement from a few days ago in which he revealed that the government was holding disarmament talks with some groups of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In response to the prime minister’s comments, the PPP has called for a parliamentary session on the matter, saying that the premier’s statement was “extremely sensitive”.

PPP General-Secretary Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, in a statement, said the prime minister’s statement was tantamount to “rubbing salt in the wounds” of terrorism affectees.

Former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar had said that talks only ever prove successful when both parties are in agreement, regretting the prime minister not taking the nation into confidence.

Meanwhile, PML-N’s Khwaja Asif said that he “should have taken the nation into confidence over this matter”, given the bloodshed Pakistan has witnessed at the hands of terrorists.