Debate on Peshawar attack: Opposition decries PM’s absence from Senate

Interior ministry rapped for ignoring to note down the remarks

ISLAMABAD:

Opposition members raised hackles over the continued absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his key ministers during Tuesday’s debate on the Peshawar attack, citing it as proof of the lack of seriousness on the part of government officials.

The upper house was in the middle of a debate when Chaudhry Mohammad Jaffar Iqbal from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) pointed out the absence of ministers, and proposed that the Senate Secretariat should prepare a summary based on suggestions given by members to be presented to the government. “The ministers perhaps do not have time to sit here, but we should do our job and submit our proposals to the government,” he said.



Senator Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) pointed out that the interior ministry had not even deputed any official to take notes of the debate, saying “Can there be anything more important than this?” he asked. Rabbani opposed the idea of sending a summary to the government and demanded that the prime minister should himself attend the proceedings and take the nation into confidence. “It is the third day [of the Senate session] and the PM has not attended the Senate proceedings,” he added.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition, Aitzaz Ahsan, said that that the PM should have addressed the nation after the deadly attack on the Army Public School Peshawar, adding that the constitution of a national action plan committee did not mean that nothing else should be done. “The PM should have addressed the nation and boosted everyone’s morale,” said Ahsan, adding that the decision of closing schools and universities strengthened the hands of the enemy. Ahsan also censured Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for his statement asking the Taliban not to carry out attacks in Punjab and said, “We have to launch an operation across the country against terrorists”.



Talking about the Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, Ahsan said “a TTP sympathiser is in a CDA mosque and we cannot stop him from that? What kind of war are we fighting?” Ahsan asked the prime minister to convene a meeting of heads of religious seminaries and mosques from all over the country and to take action against those ten per cent who were on the other side. He also suggested that the government should sign a peace and cooperation treaty with Afghanistan.

Textile Minister Senator Abbas Afridi made a candid confession that “I am a helpless minister”. Afridi was apparently dejected as he said that he could foresee that while the national action plan committee would offer suggestions, these would soon be forgotten. “We will forget this incident after some time as has happened in the past. Our priorities are different as we have failed to give protection to judges and legislate against the menace of terrorism,” said Afridi. “This house should pass a resolution that we should not take on any other business unless this war against terrorism is completed,” he said.

Afridi also said that the people of Fata had never been given education, health or any other facility and they were lagging behind others. “Terrorists can be eliminated in just two months if the tribes in Fata are taken into confidence for a joint action along with the military,” he added.

Senator Shahi Syed from the ANP said that his party had pointed out in 1979 that it was not our war and it had proven to be correct. He referred to the statements of former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hassan, Maulana Samiul Haq and Imran Khan and alleged that these leaders had “shown a soft corner for Taliban” and termed the recently formed committee as nothing but a “drama”. Syed referred to a confession by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman that “we have been used by the US” and said that the army and religious leaders should follow his footsteps and confess that they had made mistakes.

Nasreen Jalil of the MQM said that Maulana Abdul Aziz should be held accountable for the killing of army soldiers.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2014.