Pakistan: PPP chairman demands inquiry into negotiations with militants, their resettlement

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday demanded an inquiry into negotiations with militants and their resettlement in the country, Pakistan-based The News International newspaper reported.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday demanded an inquiry into negotiations with militants and their resettlement in the country, Pakistan-based The News International newspaper reported. The News International is an English-language newspaper in Pakistan.

Bilawal, while addressing the members of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA), said such elements should be exposed before the nation and held accountable. PPP provincial president Syed Mohammad Shah Bacha, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi, PHCBA President Tariq Afridi, General Secretary Lajbar Khan, Peoples Lawyer Forum provincial head Gohar Rahman Khattak, and others were also present.

Bilawal said the country has been pushed back ten years because of one wrong decision to allow the militants to resettle in the tribal areas. "The rising acts of terrorism are the result of talks with the militants," he said, adding that political forces should unite while the judiciary should stop taking dictation from outside.

He said the country can not progress as long as such things continue to happen. After coming to power, he said, the PPP would provide free homes and health facilities to labourers.

He said the Supreme Court was hearing after 12 years the presidential reference seeking to revisit the controversial death sentence awarded to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He said the death sentence handed down to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a judicial murder and the elements behind it should be exposed and brought to justice, as per The News International.

"Through this reference, we want to make sure no prime minister faces such a situation in future," he added. The PPP leader said the reference gave an opportunity to the judiciary to restore its prestige and public trust. "Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was murdered at the behest of a military dictator," he said, adding that ZA Bhutto had launched the nuclear programme, given the 1973 Constitution to the country, and united the Muslim Ummah.

He condemned the terror attacks in Dera Ismail Khan and said talks were held with terrorists when the nation defeated them. "The people and personnel of law-enforcement agencies made unprecedented sacrifices for peace," the PPP chairman said.

He added that the entire world had acknowledged that Pakistan had broken the back of terrorists and asked why they were allowed to resettle in the country without taking parliament into confidence. (ANI)

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