Senators take govt to task over Quetta tragedy

Claim NAP’s non-implementation, inability of agencies
caused string of recent terror hits

ISLAMABAD: Senators from across the aisle on Monday blamed the non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and inability of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to pre-empt the terrorist attacks, including a deadly one in Quetta, as the quorum issue forced early adjournment of the proceedings.

Federal Minister Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo in his speech, said, “You can crush terrorism with the barrel of gun but not the mindset that needs an entirely different approach. Until and unless, we control seminaries and their syllabi, the making of Nacta and NAP may remain in place while people of that mindset will also continue to play with masses’ lives.”

He believed that due attention was not given to the tragedy and asserted whether RAW or any other foreign agency was behind it, people were being massacred and that must be stopped come what may. He felt had NAP been implemented in letter and spirit, terrorist acts might not have happened.

Senators sympathised with Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldeni of BNP-Mengal, who lost his young son in the terror attack in Quetta. Jamaldeni’s son had returned after completing education abroad.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Senator Usman Khan Kakar said the situation would not improve until parliament was given due importance and sovereign status and that both the foreign and interior policies must be framed in the legislature.

“The nuclear bomb was made by spilling the blood of Afghans while the politician who gave the Constitution to the nation was hanged and the one who abrogated the Constitution and imposed militancy on Pakistan and destabilised the region was called mard-e-momin, mard-e-haq,” he charged.

He clarified his party was not against the people of Punjab but against the ruling elite of the province and that 90 percent of the establishment belonged to the largest province. He alleged the chief martial law administrator patronised terrorists and denied due status to the Senate and as well as parliament.

The senator continued by saying that Musharraf was sent abroad in the presence of parliament and the Supreme Court. He wanted an end to what he called the intelligence agencies’ meddling in political matters. About the statement of Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan, chiding PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai for his interview to an Afghan newspaper and his speech in the National Assembly, Kakar alleged the minister talked like the one who lives in Lal Haveli, an abvious reference to Sh Rashid Ahmad.

Kakar challenged that it was a wrong statement that the Quetta attack was carried out to fail the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, saying the project was neither in Balochistan nor in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Where were the security agencies when terrorists had set up their camps? There are three dozen intelligence agencies with massive budget. NAP, Nacta, Zarb-e-Azb and apex committees have failed,” he charged.

“It is time for about-turn. Parliament should frame policies and the patronisation of terrorists must be stopped forthwith. The establishment, the judiciary and bureaucracy should accept the parliament’s supremacy,” he emphasised. He proposed summoning of a joint sitting of parliament’s two chambers over the August 8 terrorist attack in Quetta.
He wanted the government and political parties to take a stand on this.

The Quetta attack, he alleged, was a failure of the security forces and intelligence agencies while there was a chief secretary who issued policy statements and acted like a viceroy.

The first sitting of the Senate’s 252nd session was marred by the walkout of the opposition and treasury senators from the House against the government’s alleged non-seriousness towards the debate on the menace of terrorism as during the lengthy debate, ‘most of the time, no minister was present to take notes of it’.

The Senate began its fresh session with Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri in the chair. The House passed a resolution strongly condemning the terrorist attacks in Quetta and Mardan: it was moved by Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq that expressed deep sorrow over the killing of innocent people in the gruesome incidents. Senator Ahmad Hassan chaired the sitting most of the time.

The House also offered Fateha for those killed in these terrorist attacks. The resolution said that the House stood by the lawyers’ community and expressed solidarity with them in the hour of grief.The resolution called upon the federal and provincial governments to take strict action against the terrorist elements.

Senators from across the aisle demanded an impartial investigation into the Quetta tragedy and award of punishment to those who would be found responsible for what they called the grave security lapse. They said condemnation and condolences were not enough, there was a need to collectively deal with the existential threat.

They lamented that thousands of precious lives had been lost in acts of terrorism but neither investigations were held ever nor any agency or officer was punished and that even banned outfits and their leadership were freely carrying out activities, collecting donations and carrying images of generals printed with their leaders and all this was going on unnoticed.

Taking part in the debate, MQM Pakistan’s parliamentary leader Senator Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi charged that Quetta carnage was a collective failure of the federal government, its institutions, provincial government and intelligence agencies, which failed to protect lives of innocent citizens.

“But, unfortunately, none concedes failure. What we do is to condole with the victims’ families, have photo sessions and then forget what had happened, why it happened and who was at fault,” he lamented.

Mashhadi insisted that it was the people’s right to ask who exactly was behind the terrorist attack and those happened previously in different parts of Pakistan. He added, “You could not deliver by arresting one or two or more people of MQM, PPP or ANP. There is a lack of political will to take on the menace of terrorism, as hate campaign is on from certain mosques and seminaries while NAP remains non-implemented,” he alleged.

PML-Q’s Mushahid Hussain Sayed said whether it was mufti or khaki, both had achieved successes but failed to root out the menace of terrorism and he lamented the state had failed to protect life and property of citizens.

“The counter-terrorism strategy is also not there as it must have been. There is a need to probe how and why a security breach took place, as there is a pattern to carry out terrorist acts,” he noted. He insisted it should be conceded that it was a security lapse, which led to the tragedy in Quetta.

He said that Balochistan needed a healing touch since long and wanted to know why the process of talks for reconciliation with angry Baloch elements had been halted, advocating its resumption with those who wanted to remain within the ambit of Pakistan.

Senator Talha Mehmood of the JUI-F feared attempts were being made to repeat the history of break-up of Pakistan. He called for taking on facilitators of terrorism.

Leader of the Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan and PTI’s Nauman Wazir Khattak came hard on the government on finding that the front row was empty and alleged it reflected the non-seriousness of the government towards the Senate and debate on terrorism. “There should have been federal interior minister or minister of state. But the state minister and law minister came and went away within five minutes. There is no use sitting in the House,” retorted Aitzaz while leading the opposition’s walkout, which was joined by senators belonging to Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who sit on the treasury benches.

The chair adjourned the sitting for 30 minutes in the hope of quorum but had to adjourn the session till Tuesday afternoon, as only a few senators were present in the House.

Earlier, PPP’s newly-appointed parliamentary leader, Senator Taj Haider insisted that apart from taking on terrorists, those who supported them should also be taken to task. He called for better coordination among intelligence agencies and the provinces. He regretted that while on the arrival of prime minister, doctors and other staff had to attend him instead of paying attention to those wounded in the Quetta hit.

He called for devising a strategy to deal with the West’s imperialist policy that was hitting the Muslim countries hard, particularly those known as moderate and progressive nations.

PML-N’s Mushahid Ullah Khan came hard on PTI’s Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri for allegedly lying to the nation regarding the government and said they were hellbent on spreading anarchy in Pakistan and disrupting the development projects. He also grilled Altaf Hussain for his diatribe against Pakistan and said his utterances were well-thought out at the behest of RAW, might be Mossad and NDS and other anti-Pakistan agencies.