Counterterror fight : Govt defends agencies, snubs ally’s criticism

Opposition leader calls for in-camera briefing by military leadership.

ISLAMABAD: The government came out strongly in defence of the country’s security and intelligence agencies in parliament on Wednesday, a day after the leader of a key allied party heaped criticism on the intelligence network for failing to stop the Quetta massacre.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were unanimous that the security and intelligence agencies were diligently fighting terrorism, but the opposition asked the government to summon the military leadership for an in-camera briefing to parliament on the security situation.

“I want to tell the people of Pakistan that our intelligence agencies are working day and night to defeat the designs of the country’s enemies,” Nawaz told lawmakers in the National Assembly. “The armed forces and law enforcement agencies are sacrificing their lives, and the intelligence agencies have trounced hundreds of plans of the enemy. This is the reason that today’s Pakistan is much stronger and much secure,” he added.

A day earlier, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, the chief of nationalist Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, a key ally of the ruling PML-N, came down hard on the intelligence agencies, asking the prime minister to sack the officials of the spy agencies if they failed to investigate the deadly bombing at Quetta’s Civil Hospital that left over 74 people dead on Monday.

“The Quetta bombing has saddened the entire nation but it cannot dent our unity and resolve to defeat terrorism,” said Nawaz who showed up in the lower house of parliament after an 86-day hiatus. “Unity is the befitting response to terrorists who are not happy to see peace and prosperity in Pakistan,” he added.

The prime minister played a master stroke by walking to the opposition’s lobby contrary to parliamentary norms to persuade lawmakers from the PPP and PTI to end their walkout over controversial remarks the interior minister earlier made in his speech in the house.

Nawaz said the obscurantist ideology that had targeted Benazir Bhutto, Hazara and Ismaili communities, churches and children at APS Peshawar was behind the Quetta attack, and “we will defeat it”.

“Our enemy is not happy with prospects of progress because of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC), and it is imperative to stand united and defeat these evil forces, he said in an apparent reference to India which Pakistan blames for fuelling unrest in the province in an attempt to sabotage the multibillion-dollar project.

The premier also referred to Indian atrocities in disputed Kashmir state, saying Pakistan was raising its voice internationally because “we cannot remain silent”. He said Operation Zarb-e-Azb and National Action Plan (NAP) had been launched with consensus and would be completed at all costs.

Earlier, leader of the opposition Khursheed Shah reminded the government that it had supported the government through and through, be it establishment of military courts, NAP or National Counter-Terrorism Authority, and offered the government to constitute a parliamentary committee on national security.

Shah, who is also a senior leader of the PPP, also questioned the gains of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. “If it is known that terrorists have fled to Balochsitan due to the operation, then why they cannot be stopped,” he said, adding that parliament was not briefed on the operation.

Referring to the action in Sindh, Shah claimed that ‘genuine facilitators’ of terrorists were not being arrested and instead the action was somehow used for political victimisation. “What is the reason that terror facilitators are not arrested in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and whether NAP is merely meant for Sindh?”

PTI’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi asked the government if Pakistan has failed to convince the international community that it was also suffering. “The world is not ready to accept our sacrifices in the war against terrorism.”

He said the menace of terrorism was not going to end soon but the government should tell the truth about resistance to NAP implementation, reasons for lack of coordination among 30 intelligence agencies and capacity building of law enforcement agencies.

In response Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali gave a detailed account of the steps the government has taken to tackle terrorism, including talks with the Taliban and the subsequent launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb.

Nisar said the key civil-military huddle in the wake of Quetta bombing was still going on. “All chief ministers will be invited next week for an assessment; therefore, it is premature to talk about it,” he added.

Appreciating the opposition for its support in the past, Nisar said: “I have always underlined the need for unity and that is the reason I praised Asif Ali Zardari for the first time in my life.” As there were some laughs in the house, he said, “If you are laughing, then it might be the last time.”

The minister then said that law and order situation during the last three years had improved considerably due to NAP and an across-the-board support. There had been 181 incidents in the last eight months but during 2008-9 there used to be over 2,000 attacks, he added.

Taking exception to the comments made by PkMAP chief Achakzai about the intelligence agencies, the interior minister expressed displeasure over the remarks, though he did not name anyone. “As Pakistanis, is this not our duty to stand with our armed forces who are sacrificing their lives? I condemn such statement and it is unacceptable to make such a statement at this juncture,” he said.

Nisar said that use of derogatory words for the intelligence agencies would weaken their morale; therefore, this house should send a message of recognising their services and sacrifices. He questioned if a voice had ever been raised in parliament against India’s secret agency RAW and Afghanistan’s NDS.

Nisar’s speech prompted Khursheed Shah to hit back saying the minister was scoring points by drawing comparison of number of terrorist attacks now and during the previous PPP government. “Secondly, Asif Zardari doesn’t need your award [praise],” he said before leading the opposition in a walkout in protest against ‘Nisar’s attitude’.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2016.