General (retd) Faiz Hameed wanted to bring outlawed TTP back to the country, Riaz Hussain Pirzada claims
ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (SABAH): Federal Minister for Human Rights Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada has claimed that former director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) lieutenant general (retd) Faiz Hameed wanted to bring the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) back to the country.
He made these remarks in an interview with a private TV channel. Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada claimed that an in-camera briefing was held in which army generals proposed to bring TTP back to Pakistan.
“However, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif talked on it … they said that a number of popular leaders were martyred by TTP, including Benazir Bhutto sahiba.”
In response to a question regarding who made this proposition, the minister said: “At that time, Gen Faiz had suggested that they [TTP] should be brought into the mainstream but it backfired.”
Talking about Islamabad’s F-9 Park rape case, Pirzada said that criminals were roaming about at night. “The situation is such that […] sometimes poverty and sometimes animal instinct takes over […] so people should protect themselves from such incidents.”
Earlier this month, a 24-year-old woman was raped at the F-9 Park, located in a commercial locality. The attack shocked the nation and renewed questions over the safety of women in the country.
During the interview, the federal human rights minister, in response to a question on measures that can be taken to prevent such incidents, said that the foremost way to prevent such attacks was the proper upbringing of children at home.
“Good mothers should do good upbringing. We have some limits regarding children going out at night. Not just women, men too get mugged at night.”
Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada further said that “people have to protect themselves from such incidents […] the way they say you should protect yourselves while driving”.
Additionally, on the issue of missing persons, the minister said that the real protectors of human rights were the courts because they were responsible for punishment and relief.
“This is why I say that in the cases of missing persons, there is something from both sides. In some cases, people who were used go missing … others go into hiding in the mountains or other countries and then they are declared missing. “This is a debatable point and has pros and cons,” he stated.
The minister added that until and unless the law and order situation in the country improves, the issue won’t be solved.