The opposition members in the Senate on Monday extended full support not only to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but also to the military operation in North Waziristan.
“The opposition supports the military operation launched in North Waziristan Agency and stands fully behind the government,” Opposition leader Aitzaz Ahsan told the House after Prime Minister Sharif briefed senators about the government’s decision to launch a full scale operation in the restive tribal region.
Addressing the Senate, Pakistan People’s Party’s Farhatullah Babar demanded answers to a number of questions. He questioned first as to why the military and not the civilian government announced the operation.
He said the widespread perception is that the military decided to launch the operation while the foot dragging civilian government followed suit, which would only exacerbate the civil-military divide and will not serve the purpose of a united front against the militants.
Secondly, he asked as to what plans had been put in place to rehabilitate the internally displaced persons as was done by the PPP coalition government at the time of the Swat operation in 2009.
“In the absence of a proper plan to tackle the mass exodus of people from North Waziristan, we will only add to the frustration and alienation of the affected people,” he said.
Thirdly, he asked about the status of the National Internal Security Policy announced with much fanfare by the interior minister some three months ago. He said that the security policy had promised to develop a national narrative on militancy, de-radicalization, carrying out legal reforms, reforming almost 23,000 madrasas and bringing the 26 intelligence agencies under one platform.
Babar said that no allocations had been made in the budget for achieving any of these goals.
Meanwhile, Senator Raza Rabbani said the attack on Karachi airport has exposed the so called coordination between the 26 intelligence agencies promised in the policy.
He said there was not a single sentence in the finance minister’s budget speech about ending extremism or about achieving any of the goals laid down in the national security policy.
Senator Taj Haider said, “You cannot achieve internal security as long as you patronize some militants for external security purposes.”
Senator Hasil Bazenjo said the issues in dealing with militancy are not only of efficiency or capacity but also of duplicity in our policy.