PESHAWAR:
In the provincial government’s first statement since the weekend assault, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that militants who attacked the Bacha Khan International Airport were aiming to gain control of sensitive installations in the city. He added that one of the men had been captured alive.
Speaking in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday, Hussain said the militants had accomplices in tribal areas as ‘backup’ in case they were able to succeed in their mission, but security agencies were able to foil their plans.
He added that terrorists of foreign origin had tattoos on their bodies that were used as identification marks by other terrorist organisations. “In case of faces being disfigured, people can trace their identity because of the marks,” he said. He said the attackers were likely to be from Uzbekistan or from Dagestan, Russia.
Talking about the incident itself, Hussain said that Bacha Khan International Airport is being used as an airport as well as an airbase and the security of the area is jointly managed.
He said that five terrorists were killed in the airbase attack on Saturday night, while five other terrorists were killed in a village on the outskirts of the airport on Sunday.
Hussain also paid tributes to the police, army and locals. He said that residents in surrounding areas had not panicked during the attack.
Increasing litigation
Law Minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah said that there was a need for assemblies and the executive to reassert their power in the face of increasing pressure on courts.
Talking at the assembly about the closure of about 50 schools in Peshawar, he said that executive and constitutional affairs were brought to courts in K-P from across the country, which was creating problems for the executive.
He said that the government was considering bringing a bill to the assembly which would help the assembly and executive exercise more authority.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Parliamentary Leader Pir Sabir Shah submitted a declaration to dissolve the membership of MPA Shazia Aurangzeb. She had been elected on reserved seats for the PML-N, which she quit recently to join the Pakistan Peoples Party.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2012.
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I salute the courage and determination of the KP police. They have accepted the challenge and are ready to sacrifice their lives for the country against hardcore militants, at a time when the army is not ready to take decisive action against them because the coward or confused politicians dont want to risk their own peace, or face the political backlash in the upcoming elections. Everyone believes Taliban is a nuisance for the whole country, but none except the KP police, fully supported by the govt, have challenged them.