Terrorism to be defeated with parliament’s guidance: Sana

Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan, while expressing resolve to win the war against the scourge of terrorism at all costs, on Tuesday said that the political and military leadership was determined to seek guidance from the parliament to defeat terrorism again.

Addressing the National Assembly, he assured that the political and military leadership under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would take the parliament into confidence over the recent wave of terrorism.

He said that the parliament would lay the down the policy and the government would adopt it, adding that the PM, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir and DG ISI Nadeem Anjum would also come.

The minister said that terrorism was a collective issue, which could be rooted out through forging unity and joint efforts.

He said that following the blast in Peshawar, the prime minister, army chief and defence minister visited the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital after the tragic incident.

Read more: NSC to decide on 'decisive' operation against terrorists: Asif

“The government is pursuing the same policy which was adopted after the Army Public School (APS) tragedy in 2014 to purge the country’s soil from the menace of terrorism,” he said.

He said that the entire nation stood behind operation Raddul Fasaad and successfully rooted out terrorism.

Responding to a point raised by MNA Noor Alam Khan, he said the entire nation was shocked and disturbed by the terrorist incidents. “Irrespective of its occurrence, terrorism incidents should not be categorised with any community or ethnicity,” he asserted.

He said the entire nation had the same feelings which Noor Alam Khan expressed in his speech.

Dozens of such tragic terrorist incidents occurred in Punjab particularly in Lahore during 2005-06 to 2015-16 in which many police officials ranging from constable to DIG level embraced martyrdom, he said.

Read more: Death toll from Peshawar mosque suicide bombing reaches 100

Recalling the performance of law enforcement agencies, the minister said that terrorists were not only arrested but also many had been killed during intelligence-based operations. “The entire nation has also expressed firm resolve against the menace of terrorism,” he said.

Sharing detail of the Peshawar terrorist attack, he said that a suicide bomber exploded himself in the mosque which resulted in the martyrdom of 100 people, including 97 police officials and three civilians.

He expressed the fear that the death toll could rise as 27 out of 216 injured were in critical condition. “The rescue operation has already been completed,” he added.

The minister said that the Khurasani group, a faction of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had claimed responsibility for the incident.

“Samples of the suspected attacker’s body parts have been sent to the laboratory for forensic test,” he added.

Sanaullah said investigations into the incident were underway. "Geo-fencing was being carried out besides examining CCTV footage to ascertain as to how the suicide attacker reached there," he added.

The minister said that PM Shehbaz would present the findings before the august house once the investigation into the tragic incident was completed.