Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on January 17 blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led Government for creating problems for Pakistan through its policy of "appeasement" towards the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), reports Geo TV. During an interview with Al Jazeera, Bilawal termed Khan's approach "wrong" and assured that the incumbent government has put an end to the PTI's approach. Bilawal said that the Government — in its National Security Council (NSC) meeting with top political and military leadership — decided that it would "not tolerate" terrorist groups in Pakistan and violators of the law.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan on January 18 apportioned blame for the recent resurgence of terrorism in the country on the unwillingness of the current Government to abide by the commitments made by the previous regime, saying that despite an agreement among all political parties, no resources were provided for the rehabilitation of TTP fighters and their families, reports Dawn. In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Urdu, the PTI chief said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Government did not pay heed to those returning from Afghanistan. He recalled that as soon as the regime changed in Kabul, the TTP fighters in Afghanistan were asked by the Afghan Taliban to return to Pakistan. “The previous Ghani administration used to patronise them and they used to attack Pakistan from there,” Imran Khan claimed, saying that at this point, the country had two options. “We could either line up those 40,000 people, including fighters and their families, and shoot them, or we could rehabilitate them.” He claimed there was consensus among all political parties on the issue, but regretted the fact that this did not happen. “When the militants came, they were not rehabilitated or given any proper attention, and no money was spent on them. We were afraid that if we did not pay attention to them, then terrorism would start in different places, which [is what] has happened.”