Parliament seeks review of national security policy

The Nation  |  Feb 01, 2023

Kh Asif for political forces’ unity against terrorism n Defence minister informs NA PML-N govt successfully arrested terrorism during 2013-18; blames PTI govt for allowing ‘terrorist elements’ to settle in Pakistan under a faulty decision n Rabbani demands parliamentary inquiry on PTI govt’s decision to rehabilitate TTP n Sana says terrorists use Afghan soil for carrying out activities in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD     -   Parliamentarians across the aisle on Tuesday urged the government to revisit its counterterrorism policy to effectively curb the resurgence of terrorism in the country while Minister for Defence Khwaja Asif stressed that all political forces need to jointly deal against the hostile elements as the death toll in the Peshawar Police Lines mosque suicide attack reached 101.

The law and order situation has deteriorated in recent months, with militant groups carrying out assaults across the country. Since the talks with the TTP collapsed in November, the militant group has increased its attacks, focusing on police in KP and districts bordering Afghanistan.

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The lawmakers in Senate yesterday also criticised the policy of the last PTI government to rehabilitate the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Parliament seeks review of national security policy From page 1 fighters. Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani said that this provided a basis for the current security situation in the country. The National Assembly yesterday, suspending the rest of agenda, opened debate over the wave of terrorism in the country. The house will wind up the debate after reaching consensus this week.

Kh Asif said the tragedy of the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar that occurred in December 2014 was still fresh in minds and this attack has happened in the mosque.

About the previous government’s era, he believed that a successful war was fought against terrorism from 2010 to 2017.  Taking the credit to his political party, he said that the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in its era from 20132018, successfully “eliminated” the menace of terrorism.

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He said, “Soul searching and self accountability has become imperative due to our own follies and blunders as the seeds of terrorism were sown during the dictatorial tenures.”

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He said over 450,000 Afghans had been settled in Pakistan after crossing the Pak-Afghan border on valid documents. They did not return to their country and had now occupied transport business in Pakistan, he added. He said Afghan authorities had already committed in Doha agreement that their land would not be used against Pakistan.

“Religion has nothing to do with terrorism, but it is also a fact that religion is used to take the lives of innocent people,” he commented.

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About the previous government’s decision, the Minister said terrorist elements were allowed to settle in Pakistan under a faulty decision. He said it is a matter of great concern that terrorists use Afghan soil for carrying out their activities in Pakistan. He said Afghanistan is our brotherly country and we want peace there. But, it is an irony that 450,000 Afghan citizens came to Pakistan on valid documents but they never returned to their home country. He further said 1.5 million registered and 3.5 million unregistered Afghan refugees have been living in Pakistan.

Taking part in debate, Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah expressed the resolve to win the war on terrorism at all costs. He said terrorism is a collective issue, which can be eliminated jointly. He said the political and military leadership are determined to seek guidance from the parliament in order to defeat terrorism.

Condemning the terrorist incident in Peshawar, the Minister said terrorism should not be bracketed with any community or ethnicity. He said every Pakistani is disturbed over the terrorist incidents. He said we are equally gloomy and sad over the terrorist incidents in Peshawar, Lahore, Karachi or anywhere else.

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The Interior Minister assured the House that the political and military leadership would take the parliament into confidence over the recent wave of terrorism.

Giving details of the Peshawar terrorist attack, Rana Sanaullah said a suicide bomber exploded himself in the mosque, killing over 100 people, including 97 police officials and three civilians. He expressed fear that the death toll can rise as 27 of 216 injured are in critical condition. He said the rescue operation has been completed. He said TTP-Khurasani has claimed responsibility for the incident. He said investigations into the incident are underway and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will present findings of the probe before the parliament.

Other lawmakers pointed out that political instability in the country. They said all political forces should jointly chalk out a strategy to deal with this menace. Taking part in the discussion in Senate on the recent incidents of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and across the country, PPP Senator Rabbani criticised the policy of rehabilitation of TTP. He said that few thousand ‘good Taliban’ were allowed to enter into Pakistan with arms after the takeover of Taliban in Afghanistan. He deplored that neither the parliament nor people were ever taken into confidence on the rehabilitation policy and peace talks with the banned group.

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The remarks of a seasoned politician came days after former prime minister Imran Khan in a statement had said that his government had planned to rehabilitate TTP fighters and their families in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after the takeover of Taliban in Afghanistan. He further said the plan could not be materialised due to lack of funds.

Senator Rabbani rejected the claim of a top government functionary that the parliament had given a go-ahead to the military to hold talks with the TTP. He said that the Parliamentary Committee on National Security had just been informed by the military that talks were underway with the prescribed outfit. “A decision to dispatch a Jirga to hold talks with the TTP had no legal sanctity.”

 He demanded that a parliamentary inquiry on the decision of the then PTI government to rehabilitate the TTP without taking the people into confidence should be conducted.

Former chairman Senate urged the political parties to hold a national dialogue to agree on a minimum agenda on rule of law, parliamentary form of government and a strong federation. He demanded that a meeting of the Senate’s Committee of the Whole should be summoned to discuss the issue and a new counter-terrorism strategy should be formed. Recalling that the government had summoned a joint sitting on February 8, he also called for summoning a joint sitting of the parliament on the single point agenda to form the counter-terrorism strategy.

PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, speaking on his turn, condemned the Peshawar incident and called it a larger issue. “On one side, there is failure and on other side, there is an issue of incapability,” he said, adding that their Afghan policy has failed. He claimed that America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had given $ 200 billion to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to train 200,000 Afghan mujahidin and 20,000 Arab mujahidin during the Afghan war. Similarly, it was a $ 500 billion Afghan jihad project as Saudi Arabia had also given $ 200 billion to Pakistan. “This was the biggest covert operation after World War II,” he said, adding they should accept the mistakes of the past.

Senator Sayed advised the political parties to rise to the occasion and keep aside their political differences. He warned that mere sloganeering cannot work as people wanted peace to end their problems. “If the present crisis lingers, someone else will come up to fill this vacuum.”

Criticising his own party’s government, the PML-N lawmaker said that it was better for this fragile (looli langri) government, which was already facing so much criticism, to announce elections and move forward — the remarks got applause from the opposition benches. “This is true. Let us speak the truth,” he added. He said that they should not follow the policy of military dictator Ziaul Haq that elections would be held only when the results would be positive.

He also said that the country had no counter-terrorism policy. He concluded that it was high time to formulate a clearcut national counter-terrorism policy in the joint sitting of the parliament. PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui claimed that TTP had a soft corner for former prime minister Imran Khan. He said that the last PML-N government led by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had formed a committee to hold talks with TTP and the banned group had nominated the name of PTI chairman from its side.  The other names included Maulana Samiul Haq, Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Prof Ibrahim Khan. He continued that Khan had refused and named former diplomat Rustam Shah Mohmand in his place to be part of the committee.

PTI Senator Saifullah Abro chided the ruling coalition for accusing Khan of rehabilitating TTP and said there should be no point scoring on the issue of terrorism.

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