Treasury, opposition resort to blame game on Shia genocide

A blame game between the treasury and opposition benches on their failure to prevent Monday’s Abbas Town bombing was the hallmark of the proceedings of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Both opposition and treasury benches grilled the government for its “criminal inaction” against the terrorists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) while Interior Minister Rehman Malik put the blame on the Punjab government for going soft on the banned outfits.
With the Senate passing Anti-Terrorism Bill the same day, the National Assembly also took up a report of the committee concerned to establish National Counter Terrorism Authority in the country despite the fact that it was not on agenda. The report said that there was a dire need for a focal institution to integrate and synergise national counterterrorism efforts in view of nature of magnitude of terrorist threat.
MQM lawmaker Wasim Akhtar criticized the Sindh and federal governments’ for not taking action against the terrorist organisations, adding that the Karachiites had been left at the mercy of the banned outfits while the ministers and their relatives were being provided VVIP protection.
Akhtar was followed by PML-N lawmakers who also blasted the government for its failure to take action against the terrorist organisations.
However, Interior Minister Rehman Malik responded strongly, stating that the Punjab government was soft on banned outfits and terrorists of LJ were operating from Punjab.
He also claimed that authorities had arrested four terrorists of the LJ for their involvement in the Abbas Town bombing.
“The Karachi bombing is a replica of sectarian attacks made in Quetta. A conspiracy is being hatched to delay general elections … I will submit a fact-sheet in the National Assembly tomorrow,” he added.
Malik pointed out that apart from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), some other banned outfits were also involved in the recent terrorist activities, adding that the LJ was openly holding meetings in Punjab.
Calling upon the banned outfits not to play in the hands of enemies, Malik said the enemy wanted to destabilise the country. He noted that there was no Shia-Sunni conflict in the country and rather it was a conspiracy by enemies.
Malik also suggested a joint sitting of parliament by summoning the Sindh IG and Rangers DG to explain their position in the bombing.
Earlier the House, suspending the agenda on private member day to discuss the Abbas Town carnage under an adjournment motion moved by the MQM, witnessed fiery speeches with most members coming hard on the Punjab government for letting the banned outfits operate freely in the province.
The MQM lawmakers looked emotional while discussing the Abbas Town tragedy and they pointed out that terrorists were operating under the patronage of state because of their free movement in certain parts of the country.
Wasim Akhtar deplored the silence on the part of political and religious parties on such incidents and said that these parties talked so much but never cared about security of people.
He claimed that President Asif Zardari knew about the elements who were involved in these incidents and urged him to take action against these terrorists as the supreme commander of the armed forces.
PML-N lawmaker Khawaja Asif said the government should look into internal forces which were conspiring to fuel the sectarian violence in the country.
PPP legislator Noor Alam Khan lashed out at the Punjab government and said members of banned outfits were freely moving with the Punjab law minister. He brushed aside the notion that the PPP wanted to delay elections on the pretext of these terror acts and said that elections would be held on time and PPP would again win the elections.
ANP lawmaker Himayatullah said that a clear policy should be devised to negotiate only with those who were willing to come to table under the ambit of constitution. He also called for inquiring the generals for their inaction against terrorists.
PML-Q’s Sheikh Waqas Akram said that banned outfits have displayed their hoardings in Jhang and when he tried to remove them, Punjab police came to protect these hoardings.
PML-Q legislator Sardar Bahadur Khan said that Punjab was a hotbed of banned outfits and despite the letters by the interior minister no action was taken against them in the province.