Divided we...: Lawmakers unable to forge consensus on terrorism, other core issues

Resolution on drone strikes deferred after a ‘crucial’ clause on impeding NATO supplies was struck off.

PESHAWAR: When it comes to debating terrorism and the current security situation of the province, political parties in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly remain polarised in their views.

Unlike the previous assembly, where treasury benches were unanimous in criticising terrorism, the current ruling coalition and a majority of the opposition – to an extent – share similar opinions. However, opposition lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) have been the lone wolves in their stance against the Taliban.

The issue continued to crop up while the house was debating the provincial budget, however, it could not be discussed in detail as the budget deadline hovered. After the economic plan was passed on Friday, the issue of terrorism was back on the house’s agenda.



Unsurprisingly, it was PPP lawmaker Nighat Orakzai who took the floor from K-P Senior Minister Sikandar Sherpao when he asked lawmakers to pray for the Peshawar and Quetta victims at the start of the session.

For and against talks

Orakzai was unequivocal in her diatribe against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led dispensation of the province. She reminded the treasury benches that the central and provincial governments and assembly were keeping silent in the face of militancy.

The PTI was voted into power in the name of peace, pointed out Orakzai. She asked the house to come up with a resolution firmly decrying terrorism.

Minister for Public Health Shah Farman further infuriated the PPP legislator when he attempted to respond to her speech. The minister said peace was part of the PTI electoral manifesto and called for talks with the Taliban as Pakistanis were being killed on both sides of the skirmishes.

Farman went on to add no one knew how many children had been killed in drone attacks. A single drone strike paves the way for hundreds of suicide bombers, repeating what he said at the site of the Badhaber attack on Sunday, a blast which resulted in the death of 18 people.

“We (the PTI) have been insisting for the past 10 years to not send the army to the tribal areas,” said Farman, “Why is Pakistan part of this war?”

However, ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak retaliated with scathing criticism of the government. In an apparent reference to the PTI stance of putting the onus of an anti-terrorism policy on the federal government, Babak asked if the people of K-P should continue to die till the centre comes up with a policy.

He continued to take the ruling-coalition to task. The ANP leader maintained the Taliban emerged in Buner, Swat and Badhaber after the PTI-led government took seat in Peshawar.

“It will not be wrong to say the Taliban are in power in this province after the May 11 general elections,” he stated point blank. Babak asked the treasury benches to come up with a clear policy.

“If drones are in violation of our airspace, then Uzbeks and other foreign fighters are in violation of our land borders.”

Terrorism was not only a K-P specific problem – it was felt by the entire country, countered Sherpao. He emphasised it was necessary to remind those sitting in Islamabad this fire can also spread to the capital.

Referring to Babak’s claims, Sherpao said those ridiculing the provincial government had been sitting on the very same benches over the past five years. “Why did they (the ANP-led government) fail to control law and order then?” The current coalition has been in power for just over a month, he justified.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) parliamentary leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman tried to hold the middle ground; the JUI-F condemned both suicide and drone attacks, said Rehman. That said, Pakistan now needs to separate itself from the US-led war, insisted the JUI-F leader, and the party would back the government in its endeavours.

Deferring resolution on drones

The assembly delayed a resolution on drone attacks for a day after opposition lawmakers protested against the treasury benches striking off a sentence calling for the suspension of NATO supplies by the K-P government if drone attacks did not cease. The resolution was jointly signed by senior ministers Sirajul Haq, Sikandar Sherpao, Shaukat Yousfazai, Shehram Tarakai and Mufti Syed Janan.Upon this, the resolution was delayed till Tuesday (today). Four other resolutions were passed, including one asking to make it binding on the Daewoo Bus Service to stop mid-route for prayers. The resolution was presented by the JUI-F lawmaker Uzma Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2013.