PPP concerned over 'mainstreaming of banned outfits'

Party's high-level committee says under NAP, banned outfits are not allowed to surface with new name

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed serious concerns over alleged mainstreaming of terrorist outfits during a high-level meeting in Larkana.

During the meeting, party leaders said that under the National Action Plan (NAP), banned outfits, which are now being mainstreamed, were not allowed to surface with a new name and start functioning in the country.

The meeting of PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), presided over by Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto jointly, was held at Naudero House on the tenth anniversary of party’s slain leader Benazir Bhutto in Larkana.



The recent statement by PPP came just a day after Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the chief of banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), inaugurated the office of JuD’s political arm Milli Muslim League (MML) on Lahore’s Mohni Road in NA-120 constituency.

The CEC also expressed grave disappointment over the recent verdict of the anti-terror court in Benazir's murder case, calling it unacceptable while vowing to vigorously pursue the appeal filed against the verdict.



The party, in the meeting, has demanded timely elections on the basis of the new delimitation while placing before the Parliament a bill for extending the jurisdiction of Peshawar High Court to Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with other reforms in tribal areas. This, the party believes, will lead to Fata's merger in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as envisaged in the Charter of Democracy which will then correct distortions in history and contain political polarisation.

"The party wishes to make it clear that it will not permit any disruption in the continuity of democratic process", a press release issued after the meeting said.

The party also expressed concerns over the levying of new taxes on the people of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) without giving them their rights, which sparked mass protests in the area.

PPP’s spokesperson and secretary general of the PPPP Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the party also discussed the forthcoming general elections and directed all party chapters to gear up, ensure that women vote  and take all steps needed to prevent any rigging.

"The PPP will not be a party to any movement that may result in derailing the system or undermining the Parliament," he said.