‘Peshawar attack a plot to sabotage PM’s visit’

Governor inaugurates water filtration plant at orphanage, school.

FAISALABAD:

“I see a deep conspiracy in the Peshawar church suicide attack to sabotage Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s address at the United Nation and the interior minister’s visit to the UK,” Punjab Governor Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar said on Wednesday.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a water filtration plant at an orphanage and the Kindergarten Girls High School Tariqabad.

The governor condemned the attack that killed 83 people and injured more than 200 others.

Calling it an act of barbarism, the governor said it had created an awkward situation for Pakistan across the world and for the Pakistani diaspora.

He lauded the minorities for their patience and urged them to remain tolerant.

He said there was no doubt that the minorities were playing an important role in Pakistan’s development. He said the government needed to protect them against terrorists.



Commenting on the peace dialogues between Taliban and the Pakistani government, he said, the church had been attacked by “anti Pakistan forces” so that they could dictate their terms to the democratic government.

“We will never bow in front of terrorists,” he said.

He said the Pakistani nation should remain united in these hard times.

To a question, the governor said that the Punjab government would provide clean drinking water to 100,000 students at public schools by the end of the year.

He said the water filtration plants would be installed at every school in the Punjab in 2014. He said other missing facilities, too, will be provided at schools with priorities given to construction of boundary walls and toilets at girls’ schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2013.