A unanimous resolution calls upon govt to arrest culprits behind the massacre. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Senators in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution, declaring the horrific Karachi killing incident as a “grave national tragedy” and demanded that the government arrest all the culprits and award them due punishment.
“This house unanimously condemns, in the strongest terms, the incident of brutal killings of innocent people, travelling a passenger bus in Karachi on May 13,” said the resolution moved by PPP senator Karim A Khawaja. The resolution also called upon the government to expeditiously initiate prosecution to bring the perpetrators to book.
At least six armed men riding on motorcycles boarded an Ismaili community bus near Safoora Chowk in Karachi Wednesday morning and opened fire indiscriminately on commuters, killing at least 43 and injuring nearly a dozen of them.
The upper house dropped its agenda as senators from both sides of the aisle discussed the heart-wrenching incident in detail wherein they gave suggestions and also put question mark over the performance of intelligence agencies of the country.
PkMAP leader Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel took up the issue as he referred to a statement of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan wherein he had revealed that there were 33 intelligence agencies, and questioned “why they cannot stop terrorists”. The agencies know everything but they have to revisit their priorities, he insisted.
It was former military General Ziaul Haq, the senator noted, who had sowed the seed of terrorism and later on it was because of flawed policies of agencies and rulers, of making Afghanistan the country’s “fifth province”, that we are suffering today.
PTI senator Brigadier (retd) John Kenneth Williams suggested analysing the situation the country is facing today and questioned as to why the agencies did not pre-empt this attack.
Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi of PML-N, however, had something else to say. “It is a strange coincidence that the attack took place the day the prime minister has convened an All Parties Conference [APC] to address concerns over the Pak-China Economic Corridor project,” he said, adding, “Some forces wanted this project not to take off.”
Another member of the ruling party, Nihal Hashmi, also shared similar views, saying the attack was part of a planned conspiracy to give the world a message that Pakistan is not safe for investment and business. He claimed foreign powers were behind the attack.
PPP senator Sehar Kamran raised objection over the fact that the Premier Nawaz was attending an APC instead of going to Karachi to express solidarity with victims’ families, adding, “Perhaps the government’s priorities are not that.”
PML-N senator Javed Abbasi termed it second deadly attack after the Army Public School in Peshawar.
Focusing on e-petitions
Earlier, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani announced that the house would hold a 30-minute debate, for the first time in its history, over issues highlighted by the people of the country through e-petitions. The senate, according to details, had received 208 petitions till Tuesday.
Rabbani directed the concerned ministers to brief the house over the issues on Thursday.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2015.
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