Bashir Bilour asks Fazlullah, other militants to face courts

Bashir Bilour, who is parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, asked the fugitive leader of the Swat Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, and his comrades to face courts in Pakistan. He said the militants’ dream to establish a parallel administration was not going to come true. “It’s not the rule of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, which handed over the whole Malakand region and Swat to the Taliban,” he remarked.

The minister said that the Pakhtuns were being subjected to atrocities and terrorism through a well-hatched conspiracy, which was mainly due to the disunity among them. “Had Pakistan avoided interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbouring countries, there would not have been bloodshed on our soil,” he argued.

Bashir Bilour said the dream of renaming the province as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came true after a long struggle and the longstanding problems being faced by the Pakhtuns were being resolved after getting provincial autonomy. “The day is not far off when the federation would only have foreign and defence departments while all the remaining ministries will be devolved to the provinces, which will go a long way in putting the provinces on the path to prosperity,” he hoped.

The 18th Amendment, he said, would herald an era of prosperity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as the provincial government would shortly start work on Munda and Spaylanai power projects. He said these projects would not only cater to the energy needs of the province but also provide sufficient water for irrigation purposes.