Assembly told: Terror incidents in 74 days claim 449 lives

Interior minister says terrorism situation linked to global scenario.

ISLAMABAD:

In only 74 days, since the new government took office in June, more than 400 people have lost their lives and 1,225 others suffered injuries in various incidents of terrorism. Most of these subversive activities were bomb blasts.

“Between June 1 and August 12 this year, 358 bomb blasts took place in different areas of the country,” Minister for Interior and Narcotics Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told legislators on Thursday.

In reply to a member of National Assembly’s question on deteriorating law and order situation in the country, the minister referred to the much talked about National Security Policy (NSP) that he said his party’s government was working hard to put together.

“We intend to consult and coordinate with every party and every member of this house on the national security policy so that we can achieve a comprehensive plan to combat terrorism,” said Nisar.

The minister said the situation has to be seen in the overall scenario of global war on terror for the last decade. In reply to the question by MNA Naeema Kishwar Khan, the interior minister refused to admit that the law and order situation was deteriorating.



“The frequency of terrorist attacks keeps on increasing or decreasing depending upon a variety of reasons. It cannot be said that law and order situation is deteriorating,” said the minister. He cited examples of Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and other countries that fought a long war against terrorism.

The minister said the government was working on the capacity building of law enforcement agencies.



Arms licences

Speaking about the efforts of law enforcement agencies to check smuggling of arms, the minister told the parliament’s lower house that 149,106 arms licenses were issued during the five-year tenure of the PPP government.

However, he said his government has placed a complete ban on issuance of further arms licences. Computerised licences will be issued only after drafting a universal government policy and rules on the matter, he added.

The minister told the house that the last government issued 30,386 licences in the first three months of 2013 alone. It issued 59,123 licences in 2009. Another 28,599 licences were issued in 2012, 17,569 in 2010 and 13,429 in 2011, the minister added.

Illegal weapons

Giving details of security operations against weapons’ trafficking, the interior minister told the house that 23,544 cases were registered in Punjab while 23,535 suspects were arrested from January to June 2013.

During the period under review, Islamabad police arrested 489 suspects and registered 478 cases of possessing illegal weapons. However, Sindh police registered no case of gunrunning, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2013.