The bodies of the soldiers – sustaining 40 bullet holes each and signs of torture – were recovered from North Waziristan and the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the killings terming it a “consequence” of the January 1 military operation in Khyber Agency. The security personnel had been in the custody of the militants for over a year – kidnapped on December 22, 2010, when several militants attacked the Mullazai Fort in the Tank district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) bordering South Waziristan.
Khan said that this act of terrorism was not only a murder of 15 individuals but also a grave tragedy for those belonging to the unfortunate families of these men, who sacrificed their lives for Pakistan’s security.
The PTI chairman stated that Taliban groups are doing a huge disservice to Islam by taking law in their own hands.
“Examples set by our prophet (PBUH) and his followers strictly forbid killing another human being and teach forgiveness,” Khan said.
Khan reiterated that societies where there is no rule of law, barbaric acts like murder of innocent men go unpunished.
“The leaders of this country have no regard for law and this has created a culture where the weak and the underprivileged become victims of those with power,” Khan said.
The PTI chairman expressed deep sorrow for the bereaved families and offered condolences and prayed for the dead officers.
Khan assured them that once in power, PTI will not spare anybody flouting justice and will ensure that every citizen of Pakistan is protected from acts of terrorism.
COMMENTS (26)
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Can somebody explain to me that out of ALL the mainstream parties, why it was only PTI whose message of support was read at the extremist rally by ‘Difa-e-Pakistan Council’ at Minar-e-Pakistan in December where the likes of JuD/Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi etc were openly spreading hate and venom, and their rallying slogan was ‘Difa-e-Pakistan… Taliban, Taliban’. And while this condemnation from him sounds good on surface, if we compare this to his response to the NATO killing of 26 soldiers, one can see the difference in how he sees the Taliban versus the West. He held nationwide protests, dharnas, and agitations for the NATO attack. And for this atrocity by the Taliban (followed three days later by another similar brutal murder of 10 more of FC soldiers), only brings out a religious advice from Imran Khan. Where is the forcefulness and the love for our soldiers, our motherland, and our sovereignty now Mr. Khan?
After three days, Imran Khan just now changed to news channel from foreign movie channels. A leader should be impartial, straightforward and near to the ground realities. Escapism or opportunism will not survive for long.
Condemns Just after 3 days!! and most of the commentators working for PTI never read news papers except seeing their official links so really have no knowledge what stances other political parties have on issues of terrorism and whether they condemned this incident or not.
@USMANm: Cautious, thankfully you are an Indian so Imran Khan’s naivete is irrelevant to you!
It isn't. It matters.If this man were to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan, we would have to deal with him and his simplistic - for the most part two dimensional - view of the world would certainly be a problem.
How about staging a dharna outside the GHQ and asking the COAS to resign for failing to provide any security to the people of this country? why is Mr. Khan so active in issues pertaining to the US and then on fronts where his dharnas can make a difference he is not saying anything?
So the Big Khan has woken up to the sentiments of the common Pakistanis... Votes play a big role in a politician's lives.
Now it's the first time you have spoken against Taliban. I hope you keep your stance and for that I shall be one of your supporters. Keep at it Khan and the whole Pakistan will stand behind you. May you bring peace and prosperity to our deprived motherland.
Give me a reason not to support Imran Khan.
We have to go after Hakimullah Mahsud. Even when we have been proposing peace to the animal he is conducting actions such as these. Torture is not allowed in Islam at all but it seems Hakimullah has started worshipping Dajjal.
Thats for the people who said Imran Khan never condemns terrorism.
Took a while but I have to give him credit. He's right about the laws not being observed or enforced being a huge part of the problem. If you look at the number of people charged for such things who were obviously guilty that were released and then make an estimate on the number of deaths each one would likely have been behind and participated in up until now to one extent or another, you'd have a pretty gross number. That's not even adding in the ones they participated in before it landed them in front of a judge to begin with. It takes so long for them to end up there, that number is pretty high on its own.
People here are talking negatively about Khan's condemnation of the killing of our soldiers, but I ask you did your leaders Zardari and Nawaz Sharif take out time to do even that or were they too pre-occupied with filling up their pockets?
The title of the story is inappropriate "Taliban attack: Imran Khan condemns killing of 15 soldiers in Orakzai" should read as "Imran khan issues self-condemnation" Notice, instead of calling talibans terrorists, he has put too many if and but.
so far he is the only politician who has talked about his or condemned it. Life of security persons have become a joke in this country about which nobody cares to talk about.
Cautious, thankfully you are an Indian so Imran Khan's naivete is irrelevant to you!
Where are the street protests calling for justice against these terrorists? Everytime there is a terrorist outrage, whether it is the torture and murder of establishment figures, or massacres in mosques, schools, markets and roads - why do the public stay quiet?? Pakistan - step back from the abyss and open your eyes! Your real enemies are operating with impunity on your own soil. This is down to decades of pandering to bloodthirsty zealots - it's still not too late to turn things round. Wake up!!
Not so much a condmenation of the Taliban as it is a show of support for the Army...read into that what you will!
When TTP was killing civilians, Khan sahib was taking Taliban name in his condemnation. He was talking about "reprisal " attacks of extremists. Now, when its Army casualties, he is NOT talking about Army operation as the CAUSE.
I thought end of drones and NATO blockade would end the terrorism problem in Pakistan ?!
After reading so many articles, blogs and columns Imran Khan finally came out from closet and condemn the killing but not condemn the killers (Taliban). I am still waiting for his condemnation of 10 beheaded bodies of FC personals by Taliban and todays blast in NW. Lets wait another 3 days.
@Cautious: I think his is the only solution that can work, ie separate the real ideological taliban to the ones who are fighting in the reaction of military operation and then launch a surgical operation against these ideological talibans and find out that who is providing logistic support to them and what can be the role of people like raymond davis in this regard...
Better late than never --- unfortunately for IK it's increasingly apparent that his solution to the terrorist problem is naive and isn't going to work.
He condemned the killing of our soldiers but did not condemn the Taliban.
He just said "Taliban groups are doing a huge disservice to Islam by taking law in their own hands."
He would never condemn them as he needs both the support and the vote of religious parties.
Yesterday I was watch an interview of IK with our Indian TV channel. Watching him, it memorised me. This man is straigh as an arrow. I like him.
See the following interview: http://www.timesnow.tv/Excl-No-tie-up-with-Musharraf-1/videoshow/4393336.cms http://www.timesnow.tv/Excl-No-tie-up-with-Musharraf-2/videoshow/4393337.cms http://www.timesnow.tv/Excl-No-tie-up-with-Musharraf-3/videoshow/4393338.cms
Thanks God he didnt bring in the 'taliban equals pushtoon nationalism' theory in all this. Well said
correction;
Because Khan sahib has now set his eyes at the biggest prize of become the PM, it is now easier for him to distance himself away from Talibans (ET edited some of my words).
Its a bit late but its good that PTI spoke about it. I haven't seen a condemnation from other political parties. However, that hardly matters to critics, they will say what they want to say against IK anyways.