Shah seeks PM's apology over counter-terror lapses

Lashes out at government for failing to curb terrorism

ISLAMABAD:

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah has demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif apologise over non-implementation of the country’s counterterrorism policy, the National Action Plan.

Talking to the media in his chamber at the Parliament House, Shah said: “The network of terrorists has yet to be dismantled.” He lashed out at the government for failing to take measures to curb terrorism in the country.



He said that out of 3,000 cases only 60 had so far been referred to the military courts. He asked the government to provide details of the cases not yet forwarded to the military courts for trial.

“Who will decide the fate of the accused? This is how the government is being run? If this is the way things would work, then the future of democracy is doomed.”

The opposition leader demanded that a judicial commission be formed to investigate into last week’s attack on the Bacha Khan University in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Charsadda district. Twenty-one people, mostly students, had lost their lives in the assault.

He said that even Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condemned the terrorist attack in Charsadda, while the country’s top security czar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had yet to do so, adding that the attack was no less tragic than the December 2014 assault on the Army Public School in Peshawar. Nearly 150 people, most of them students, had lost their lives in the attack.



Shah said the government’s “non-serious” attitude towards terrorism was evident from the fact that the National Counter Terrorism Authority had yet to be made functional and its website updated.

He urged the premier to take measures to curb terrorism and militancy in the country “before it is too late”, claiming that around 70% nurseries of terrorists were situated in Punjab.

“The government should clarify whether Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar has been arrested or picked up owing to security concerns.”

Azhar and his militant organisation have been accused by India of perpetrating the January 2 attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, close to the Pakistani border.



Regarding Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif’s announcement on Monday that he does not plan on requesting an extension after his tenure as army chief ends on November 29, 2016, the opposition leader said he welcomed the decision. “It is a moment of pride for all of us, as it will increase the integrity of the army.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2016.