Justice Isa questions talks with terrorists

ISLAMABAD:

Days after terror struck Peshawar echoing the province's tragic militant past, Supreme Court judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa has expressed shock over the state’s conspicuous absence from the scene, asking why negotiations were being held with terrorists.

Noting that the state was ‘asleep on job’, Justice Isa expressed concerns about the alarming increase in incidents of militancy.

The remarks come days after a ghastly suicide blast shook Peshawar, claiming the lives of at least 101 citizens. The attack was the latest in a string of militant attacks over the past few months.

“It is being said that terrorists should be given this and that … sometimes it is said that negotiations should be done with terrorists … where is the state in all this,” he asked during a hearing on Wednesday.

“For how long will we be scared of terrorists?”

The judge called into question the negotiations with terrorists, asking what was the reason behind holding such talks. “Today they have killed two people, tomorrow they will kill five”.

Justice Isa also said that a person could not be declared a “good Muslim” merely on the basis of their “long beards”.

Referring to the recent killing of former Supreme Court Bar Association president Latif Afridi in Peshawar, he said: “What kind of a society are we living in? A judge of ours was killed but no one cares.”

The death toll from Monday’s suicide attack on a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines area rose to 101 on Wednesday as the police claimed major arrests have been made in connection with the bombing.

A powerful explosion shook a mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area where between 300 and 400 people, mostly police officers, had gathered for prayers.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had initially claimed responsibility for the attack. However, it later distanced itself from it.

The blast, which brought echoes of K-P’s militant past, elicited alarms from across the political spectrum with a renewed debate on terrorism as it rear its head again.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday also came down hard on the “institutions and politicians” responsible for peace talks with terrorists and warned that the menace could spread to other parts of the country if immediate steps were not taken.

Similarly, on Tuesday, lawmakers in the National Assembly also regretted the decision to enter into dialogue with militants and resettle them in the country during the previous PTI regime, terming it a “faulty” move never endorsed by parliament.