ISLAMABAD, Jan 20 – Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan Sunday blamed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the terrorist attacks on the country’s security forces, Geo News reported.
In the latest attack, at least 22 security personnel were killed and 38 injured when the Pakistani Taliban attacked an army convoy in the country’ Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Sunday.
While strongly condemning the Bannu tragedy, Khan, who is also the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, said: “Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman or Sami-ul-Haq alone cannot get the Taliban peace talks off the ground.”
“The prime minister should take the lead in this regard,” he said it while addressing a rally in Haripur city, 65 km from Islamabad.
Later, Khan told reporters if he were the prime minister he would be spearheading the peace talks. “Had I been Nawaz Sharif, I would have taken the charge long ago.”
The Sunday’s attack occurred when the convoy was carrying soldiers from Bannu district to Miranshah area in the tribal region of North Waziristan when it was targeted with a bomb in the cantonment area, the Dawn reported.
Claiming responsibility for the attack, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said attacks on the security forces would continue.
Terming the Taliban an upshot of American war, Khan said that they were non-existent until 2006.
He also chose to describe Shakil Afridi, who helped US hunt down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, as a US spy. “Will a Pakistani spy be set free if he is caught in US? I don’t think so. Same goes for Afridi.” – IANS
