The Opposition gets it right

Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah is now demanding that prime minister apologise over failure to fully implement NAP

The job of the Opposition in any parliamentary democracy is, in part, to keep the government honest. It is there to snap at the heels terrier-like and make sure the government does not wander off into the long grass — something the government of Nawaz Sharif does have a penchant for. Thus we find ourselves supporting the Opposition in its call for a judicial enquiry into both the attack on the Bacha Khan University at Chasadda and the attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014. The foot-dragging in the case of the latter is now bordering on the shameful, and inexcusable. Let us not forget that nearly 150 died in the APS attack, 134 of them schoolchildren or members of staff, and a further 121 were injured. If that does not warrant a judicial enquiry, then we wonder what does.



The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah, is now demanding that the prime minister apologise to the nation over the failure to fully implement the National Action Plan (NAP) that was formulated after the APS massacre. It must be noted that the prime minister, speaking in London this week, has acknowledged that the implementation of the NAP has in part been “slow”. We add our own voice to that of the Leader of the Opposition in calling for the prime minister to come to parliament and explain himself. He and his party were elected on a ticket that included greater transparency and accountability, both of which have been notably absent as the life of the government has gone on. Mr Shah banged another nail on the head when he said that the support structures of the terrorists remained intact, and he pointed to the instance of south Punjab. He was further critical of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan who has yet to criticise in forthright terms, the Charsadda attack. In short, there is a chorus of voices, parliamentary and otherwise, saying that the government needs to work harder at eliminating terrorism, and moreover display greater accountability to the nation’s premier forum of governance — the federal parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2016.

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