Undeterred by attacks: K-P government rules out talks with militants

Hussai­n says the latest attack was a conseq­uence of the contin­uation of drone strike­s in the region.

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Friday ruled out any negotiations with militants in the wake of two consecutive attacks on the provincial capital, after months of relative calm.

Earlier, Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, on the eve of Baacha Khan’s death anniversary, had said that the government was ready to talk to militants if they renounced violence as a means to their ends.

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Hussain, while speaking about the second attack in as many days in Peshawar, told reporters that militants had planned to take over the police station and take around 372 police personnel hostage to force the government to acquiesce to their demands.

“It was a cowardly act and such wanton action will lead them nowhere,” he said, adding that the attack was a consequence of the continuation of drone strikes in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2012.