Interior minister says lynching of two Muslims by a violent Christian mob not less than terrorism
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday said that violence following the twin suicide attacks at two churches in Lahore is tantamount to terrorism and the government would make an example of the perpetrators.
Speaking in the National Assembly, the interior minister condemned the lynching of two Muslim youths by a Christian mob and subsequent ransacking of public property during violent protests by the aggrieved community.
“Suicide attacks are the worst form of terrorism but burning people is not a lesser crime,” he said.
The interior minister said that the government sympathized with the Christians and assured religious minorities that every Pakistani citizen was equal in the eyes of the law.
He said the terrorists want to trigger sectarian strife and anarchy through attacks on imambargahs, mosques and minorities groups.”It is our responsibility to give a message of unity and firm resolve in response to any terror attack,” he added.
Patting the government’s back for “improving the law and order situation”, the minister said the security agencies had tightened the noose around terrorists which is why they were targeting soft targets in desperation.
Taking the House into confidence on investigation into the Shikarpur tragedy, Nisar said that that two major culprits of the incident have been arrested with the close coordination of intelligence and security agencies. He said those behind the incident are also on the hit-list of the security agencies.
On the issue of execution of Shafqat Hussain, Nisar said that the issue should not be politicized as Hussain’s mercy plea had been rejected by the then president Asif Zardari.
He said that no political party had raised concern over Hussain’s execution orders until now.
He asked the political parties having reservations over the matter to provide the Interior Ministry with a proof that Hussain’s age at the time of conviction by ATC was wrong in the papers. He said that no record of Hussain’s age has surfaced. Hussain would be hanged on March 19 in accordance with the law, he added.
