Opposition questions govt’s resolve to tackle terror

Karachi
The opposition parties, during the provincial assembly proceedings on Monday, questioned the resolve and preparedness of the government to tackle terrorism.
The legislature also unanimously passed a resolution condemning a bomb attack at an imambargah in Shikarpur on January 30 that killed over 60 persons and injured several others.
Despite the opposition’s criticism, the proceedings remained quite peaceful, unlike the sitting on January 27 wherein the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had vociferously protested against certain remarks of the chief minister.
The MQM lawmakers said the provincial government had not taken enough measures to overcome the issue of growing extremism and sectarianism in the province.
The party’s parliamentary leader, Sardar Ahmed, said sectarian terrorism had spilled from Quetta to Shikarpur and apparently the people responsible it had set up a highly organised wing to target the Shia community.
He added that if these people were not stopped, there could be similar attacks in other districts too.
“The provincial government should increase security for mosques, imambargahs, churches and temples across the province,” Ahmed suggested.
“The government should set up its own intelligence wing as the province has to rely heavily on federal agencies for such matters. The special branch of the police force alone cannot properly perform this task,” he added.
Speaking about the lack of medical facilities in Shikarpur following the blast, Ahmed said the provincial health department had no dearth of financial resources to handle post-terrorist attack situations.
“The provincial health department has plenty of funds and it is necessary to use them wisely.”
MQM deputy parliamentary Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said the scope of the ongoing operation against criminals under way in Karachi should be expanded across the province to deal with the increasing extremism and militancy in the rural areas.
“The parliamentarians, especially the lawmakers of the MQM, have supported the federal and provincial governments in the passage of all special laws against terrorism, but no practical step is being taken to overcome the problem,” he added.
Hassan said the provincial government should reactivate and strengthen organisations like the civil defence and the disaster management authority for tackling emergency situations after terrorist attacks.
He further advised that the MQM’s proposal to set up neighbourhood watch committees across the province should also be considered.
Faisal Subzwari of the MQM said people affiliated with banned outfits were not being arrested in accordance with the National Action Plan. Instead, they were being provided with police protocol,” he observed.
Pakistan Muslim League-Functional lawmaker and leader of the opposition, Shaharyar Khan Mahar, who is from Shikarpur, said that there had been sectarian attacks in his hometown in the past too but despite repeated reminders, the government had not addressed the problem.
“The government is not interested in the law and order situation in Shikarpur at all. There has been no eligible, dedicated and professional police official posted in Shikarpur for a long time,” he added.
Mahar pointed out that the Civil Hospital Shikarpur lacked medicines and emergency equipment and seriously ill patients were usually referred to hospitals in Sukkur and Karachi.
PML-F MPA Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh appealed to the chief justice of the Sindh High Court to personally take notice of the Shikarpur attack and order a judicial inquiry into it.