Mian Iftikhar warns of escalating Taliban violence

Senior ANP leader Mian Iftikhar Hussain expressed the fear that the recent wave of violence would escalate in the coming few months, adding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was fully under Taliban control. “Taliban militants are roaming freely in Peshawar and patrolling the city,” he said while appearing in SAMAA’s current affairs program “Nadeem Malik Live,” today.

Speaking on this occasion, PML-N leader Amir Muqam, who survived a bomb attack yesterday, said that he was being targeted for denouncing terrorism as a cancer for Pakistan and Islam. “All sides must realize that violence would benefit nobody. Taliban were evicted from Swat after the military operation while people also suffered a lot,” he added. MQM leader Nabil Gabol confirmed that the Ministry of Interior had issued a alert, warning Farooq Sattar, Faisal Sabzwari and him about terror threats. He said Taliban have penetrated into posh localities of Karachi like Defence and Clifton, saying that militants have set up their headquarters in the metropolis.

“I think Karachi should be handed over to army for six months. We are dealing with target killers and bombers, who are everywhere in Karachi,” he said.

To a question, he said that government should launch Swat-like operation against terrorists. Prominent religious scholar Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman said that APC was a non-serious exercise. “All parties should sit for days or weeks to take a unanimous stand on the issue of terrorism,” he said.