Members of civil society are all set to hold a press conference today to announce worldwide protests against terrorism on January 16 to mark the one month anniversary of the devastating Peshawar attack.
The protests will also be held in solidarity with the victims of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s massacre at the Army Public School on December 16 in Peshawar, which killed 150 people, including 134 children. Further, they will demand the arrest of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz.
Following the attack, the government swiftly lifted the ban on death penalty and formed a National Action Plan committee.
However, the Lal Masjid cleric, quite open in his support of the terrorists actually attempted to justify the mass murder of little school children and refused to condemn the massacre.
Civil society members took to the streets and registered an FIR against Aziz at the Aabpara police station on December 19, leading to a threatening call from the spokesperson of a TTP faction to political activist Quaid-e-Jawaan Jibran Nasir who spearheaded the protests.
Further, a court in Islamabad on January 3 issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for the Lal Masjid cleric in the backdrop of the ongoing protests.
The decision comes against the backdrop of ongoing protests organised by the civil society members.
However the police has not dared arrest the militant cleric who has openly thretened to unleash a reing of terror against the country if he is dared arrested.
The case is seen as a litmus paper test of the government’s resolve.
