A divided house: Scorn heaped at K-P govt over response to blasts

JUI-F legislator warns that the situation could become worse if ignored.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly stood bitterly divided on Monday as legislators from the opposition and the treasury benches exchanged hot words over the past week’s devastating terrorist attacks.

The assembly session, requisitioned by the opposition on Monday to discuss a single point agenda of the All Saints Church blast, was an hour late of its scheduled time.

Throughout the proceedings opposition members chided the treasury benches over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lack of a coherent policy on terrorism. They also criticised the provincial government for the apathy shown by its ministers toward survivors of the blast, while the treasury benches accused the opposition of politicising the issue.

Jamiat-e-Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) lawmaker Maulana Lutfur Rehman asked why security had not been provided following intelligence reports prior to the attack.



“Declaring emergency at hospitals and issuing condemnation in front of cameras is not enough,” he said.

The JUI-F legislator also said that if the government continued to ignore the victims, the situation could take a turn for the worst.

When the assembly session resumed after the break, Awami National Party’s parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak called on the government to shun political expediencies and alleged that it was planning to decorate killers of about 40,000 Pakhtuns by demanding offices for them.



Following this, K-P adviser for prisons Malik Qasim Khattak asked opposition benches where were Asif Ali Zardari and Asfandyar Wali at this hour of need and added that Imran Khan was the only real representative of K-P.This infuriated PPP lawmaker Nighat Orakzai who had a heated exchange with Khattak and brandished bloodstained clothes of child victims from Qissa Khawani blast.

Later when PTI lawmaker Soran Singh accused the opposition of politicising bodies, PPP’s Nighat stood up and crossed the floor towards Soran Singh to attack him. However, other members of the assembly restrained her. Soran Singh’s speech was again interrupted by shouts and catcalls from Askar Pervez and Frederick Azeem for his use of the word ‘Esaayi’ for Christians.

Later, another PTI female lawmaker Maleeha Riaz was criticised for her remarks, as opposition members took exception to what she had said.

Death toll much higher

Earlier, a JUI-F lawmaker, Askar Pervez alleged that the provincial government had misquoted the number of deaths.

“Authorities are saying that about 84 people died in the church attack, but I have a list of about 123 fatalities,” he said adding that he was a member of the attacked parish.

Askar said that they had buried around 46 people in a single night and complained that Christian victims of the blasts were not properly taken care of at the hospitals.

“I have receipts of payments made to purchase medicines from private medical stores while those who were affluent took patients to private hospitals,” he stated.

He said doctors at the Combined Military Hospitals had asked patients to submit Rs35,000 for performing laparotomy procedure on slain principal William Ghulam’s wife.

“Did they ask Malala Yousafzai for ultrasound costs?” he pointed out, adding that people were also scheming to usurp Rs500,000 compensation announced for the victims.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2013.