National Assembly Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah Wednesday asked the government to register its protest with the Indian High Commission over the recovery of Indian arms and Factor-VIII injections from the terrorists in Pakistan and demand an explanation from New Delhi.
Talking to journalists at the Parliament House after a meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Syed Khursheed Shah said that if the government resorted to reconsider the mandate of dialogue with Taliban – after realising that they could not prove fruitful – an All Parties Conference would be called to take stock of the situation.
The opposition leader emphasised that it was not just a political issue but it was matter of national security and all the parties should strengthen the hands of the government. He said the government would have to “play on the front foot” as far as the issue of dealing with terrorism is concerned.
Commenting on the Karachi airport attack, Shah said the federal government should not accuse the provincial government for security failure. He said all the opposition parties would be taken into confidence about the establishment of a Parliamentary Committee over electoral reforms proposed by the prime minister.
Speaking about his meeting with Qureshi, Shah said that they exchanged views on cut motions to be presented during the budget debate as well as the parliamentary committee for electoral reforms. He said the opposition would be submitting cut motions jointly in the budget of eight ministries.
He said the opposition has told the government in categorical terms that it was its duty to ensure quorum in the house and it was not responsibility of the opposition. He cautioned that if there were 30 members in the house instead of 87, the opposition would point out the quorum.
In reply to a question, the opposition leader said the process of electoral reforms was initiated during the tenure of PPP government during which the voters lists were corrected and it was decided to have photographs of the voters on the electoral lists. He said the election commission was made autonomous but certain deficiencies remained which would now be removed. He said for this purpose, parliamentary committee would be set up on the pattern of 18th amendment.
To another question , the opposition leader said the action by the army against terrorists four months back drew positive results and if the government and the army had been on one page, the situation would have been different. He emphasized the need for making the intelligence network more viable and strong as that would help in improvement of the situation and success against terrorists.