Cleaning up: Terrorists will be eliminated, says Mamnoon

President visits CMH, meets injured children

PESHAWAR: President Mamnoon Husain said on Saturday that the government will completely eliminate terrorists as it is now the only way of eradicating militancy and terrorism from the country.

President Mamnoon was talking to the media at the Governor House after visiting the Army Public School attack victims at Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

He was accompanied by Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan and Corps Commander Peshawar Hidayatur Rahman during his visit to the CMH. President Mamnoon said the government has resolved to eliminate the roots of terrorism from the country.

“The government will work on improvement of witness protection laws,” he said, adding that it was observed that witnesses of terrorist activities were hesitant to testify before the courts out of fear.

“We need to speed up the proceeding of adjudication of the militants to bring them to justice and provide justice to the victims’ families,” the president said.

The president during his visit to the CMH told the students that Allah Almighty has given them a new life and now they should forget about the fear and grief and focus their attentions on getting education.

He also appreciated the courage of the children and expressed satisfaction over medical facilities provided to the injured students in hospitals.

Talking about the cooperation of Afghanistan government in operation against the militants, the president said “the President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani has himself assured us of cooperation in clearing the border areas of terrorists.” “It is encouraging that today, the nation is united against the militants,” President Mamnoon said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2014.