Dr. Yasmin Raashid advisor to PTI Chairman said as the police have killed Haroon Bhatti, one of the founding members of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) in an encounter on Wednesday night in Lahore's Badami Bagh area, stringent security measures need to taken in the province to avoid any unfortunate incidence as a backlash from the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi cannot be ruled out she added. She said Haroon Bhatti was a close aide of Malik Ishaq, the former chief of LeJ, who was killed in a similar police encounter in July this year near Muzafarghar. Haroon Bhatti was involved in over two dozen terrorist attacks and was brought to Pakistan from Dubai with the help of Interpol in October this year she added. She said after Malik Ishaq killing we have seen LeJ carried out number of terrorist attacks particularly in South Punjab. It is imperative now to start operation clean up against banned outfits in Punjab she added. She said the effective implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) in Punjab is yet to be seen. By killing few heads of banned outfits sectarianism cannot be uprooted from the province she added. Instead of killing the terrorists in police encounters they should be convicted in the military courts she added. She said Army has also raised its concerns over poor progress of NAP from the civilian institutions. Punjab government needs to be proactive in dealing with terrorists of banned outfits she added.
PTI Information Secretary Andleeb Abbas said although a terrorist was killed but police encounters always raised questions when Punjab Law minister Rana Sanaullaha has reputation of having relation with LeJ people. She questioned why Haroon Bhatti case was forwarded to military court when he was in the custody of Punjab police since last one month? She said according to Punjab police, there are nearly 40,000 Taliban and sectarian militants active in the province. Only 2,000 of these have been placed on the fourth schedule; the reason many point out is the continuing close relation between them with many in PML-N top leadership she added. She said even those who are on fourth schedule are allowed to freely move. She said sectarian elements are taking full advantage of their relations with PML-N top brass she added. She said religious hatred must end as it is creating havoc and innocent people are being killed. But unfortunately Punjab government???s lukewarm response to deal with hate speeches is a major reason that hindering implementing NAP she added. She said sermons at mosques promoting peace among all the sects would go a long way to tackle sectarianism. She said under the nose of Prime Minster house in Islamabad Maulana Abdul Aziz, delivering hate speeches raises huge questions on the practical steps being taken to control those who are fueling militancy. She urged Chief Minister Shabaz Sharif to effectively implement NAP in its true spirit in the province.