Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. PHOTO: PID
Just a day after seeing passage of a unanimous resolution, tempers went high in the National Assembly on Thursday when the government accused the opposition of point-scoring over Balochistan earthquake.
It happened after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar censured the opposition over the walkout saying, “The opposition has created a scene by staging a walk-out over the disaster.”
Nisar said that the government would not buckle under threats and attempts to make a political issue out of a natural disaster.
Leader of Opposition in the NA Khursheed Shah responded, “We can speak louder than the interior minister but we do not want to create a scene in the house.”
PTI MNA Shah Mehmood Qureshi clarified that opposition was not trying to score points over the issue and urged that the interior minister need not be aggressive.
“The government is supposed to bring the tensions down but the interior minister’s speech was rather too provocative,” Qureshi said.
He censured the Balochistan government for its failure to finalise its cabinet till date.
Briefing
Briefing the house on the rescue and relief operation, Nisar informed that 348 had died and 530 injured in the quake. Providing the details, he said the earthquake had damaged an area of 500 km in Awaran and Kech.
The minister said the National Logistics Cell has been mobilised to transport relief goods to the quake-hit areas. Since roads were nonexistent in some areas, aid was being sent by helicopters and C-130 planes, he added.
He said certain elements were trying to interrupt the relief operation by road, and hence the government had initiated aerial supply operation.
Moreover, a sum of Rs100 million had been allocated for the relief operation.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2013.
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