PESHAWAR – Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S), Chairman, Aftab Ahmad Sherpao has strongly condemned the cold-blooded beheading of 17 Pakistan Army personnel by militants.

Addressing a public gathering at Shamozai, Swat, on Tuesday, he cautioned that such incidents would happen frequently unless both the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan evolve a joint strategy to end militancy. He said it was the right time to chalk out effective regional peace strategy.
“Both the neighboring countries should sense the gravity of situation and join hands to bring the militancy to its logical end, once and for all.”
He also stressed working out a comprehensive plan for the imminent 2014 withdrawal of Nato and US from Afghanistan.    
He said that Pakistan must act seriously and wisely in chalking out a policy to protect the interests of the country besides guarding the interests of Pakhtuns on both sides of the border.
He warned that military operation in North Waziristan Agency would have devastating consequences for the entire region.
Referring to the power crisis, the PPP-S chairman said that the government never took the issue seriously, otherwise there would have been no power crisis in the country.
“The non-solution of power crisis shows the government’s unconcerned and indifferent attitude towards one of most painful problems that the people of the country are facing since five year,” he said.
Speaking about the current political upheavals, he asked the government to announce fresh elections immediately so that people could elect new leadership to take the country out of crises.
He blamed the ‘anti-Pakhtun forces’ for a well-orchestrated genocide targeting innocent civilians rather than militants.
“Anti-Pakhtun elements are hell-bent to push them to stone ages.
Hundreds of schools have been destroyed in Malakand and tribal areas especially of girls,” he said.
Referring to the Awami National Party’s (ANP) performance, Sherpao said the so-called “champions” of Pakhtun rights had done nothing for the people. “The ANP government had promised that there will be no power outages and free electricity will be provided to the people; they then said that initial 100 units will be free, but they did not live up to the people’s expectations,” he added.
He also said that billions had been provided to the government for reconstruction of the flood-hit areas of the province and for compensation to the people affected by the militancy and floods, but none of the money has spent on the people it was intended for.
Declaring that PPP-S on every platform raised voice for the rights of Pakhtuns, he said that, “We had fulfilled the longstanding demand of the people of Malakand by implementing Shariah in the area.”