PESHAWAR: Opposition parties Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday came down hard on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governments at the Centre and province for its alleged non-serious approach to stop and counter the terror acts in the country and province.
Speaking at an adjournment motion admitted for general discussion about a rent suicide attack on a mosque in Peshawar, the ANP and PPP lawmakers said that the chief minister, police chief and at least provincial ministers should have been present in the House at a time when the assembly members discussed and condemned suicide attack at the mosque at Koocha Risaldar in Peshawar on March 4 that had taken at least 68 lives and left injured almost 200 people.
Khushdil Khan Advocate, who had tabled the adjournment motion about the gory incident, said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed had told the media soon after terrorist attack that they had information about the alleged terrorists and also knew the whereabouts of the terrorists and their handlers. But the other day, he said, there were reports that facilitators and handlers of suicide attacker on the mosque had been killed near Peshawar during an encounter with police.
“Why the government, security and spy agencies had failed to protect the lives and properties of citizens which is their constitutional, legal and moral obligation,” he said and added that at least the elected representatives in the provincial assembly must be told about the steps the government had taken against the terrorists.
Nighat Yasmin Orakzai of the PPP said terrorists were the enemies of humanity, Pakistan and Islam.
“The attack on a mosque in Peshawar was not against a particular sect but against the peace-loving and law-abiding citizens of Pakistan,” she said and added that a conspiracy had been hatched to stir sectarian violence and clashes through such acts.
Sardar Hussain Babak, ANP parliamentary party leader, said the Pakhtuns and their soil had witnessed bloodshed, violence and terrorism for the last 45 years under different names and pretexts and the suicidal attack on the mosque in Peshawar was the worst of its kind.
“For how long will we carry the coffins of our victims and martyrs killed in the war and terrorism,” he questioned and said that the rulers and intelligence agencies had no excuse for blaming the foreign hand in terrorism inside Pakistan after fencing the Pak-Afghan border and installation of the Taliban setup in Afghanistan.
Responding to opposition remarks on the adjournment motion related to law and order, Minister for Higher Education Kamran Bangash said that neither the central nor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had ignored the terrorist attacks in Peshawar, Quetta or other parts of the country, saying practical steps had been taken against terrorist and their network.
He said some foreign powers wanted to sabotage peace and harmony in the country but our security forces and intelligence agencies had foiled many of such attempts. “The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had arrested about 1,200 terrorists since its inception in 2014 whereas about 142 had been punished while some 75 were killed in encounters,” he said.
The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan had condemned the terrorist attack on the Peshawar mosque while KP chief minister and governor visited hospitals and victims’ families for offering condolence and expressing sympathies with the bereaved families.
Earlier, Minister for Labour Shaukat Yusuzai presented the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the House under which severe punishment had been proposed for those charged with sexual abuse, children pornography, murder or sexual violence and abduction of children.
The identical adjournment motions of PTI MPA Aysha Saad and PPP woman MPA Nighat Yasmin Orakzai about the delay in the appointment of tehsildar/naib tehsildar and ASI (Assistant Sub Inspector) in the Police department were admitted for a general discussion. The session was adjourned till 2pm on Tuesday.
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