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Lawmakers in the National Assembly on Tuesday condemned the suicide bombing in Peshawar that left at least 100 people dead and over 200 others injured, while reiterating calls for a national consensus to tackle the resurgence of terrorism nationwide and slamming attempts by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government to ‘resettle’ militants in the erstwhile tribal areas.
Speaking on the floor of the house, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif lamented that the public was still reeling from the 2014 assault on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar that had left 150 people, mostly students, dead when it was faced with another disastrous tragedy. Stressing that the mosque bombing was no less a tragedy than the APS assault, he added: “The massacre of people in the mosque happens neither in India, nor in Israel.” Calling on the nation to “put our house in order,” he claimed the menace of terrorism had been eradicated through a successful war against terrorism from 2010 to 2017.
Recalling that the National Assembly had been informed two years ago—after the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul—that militants could be negotiated into laying down their arms, he clarified that the meeting had not yielded any conclusive decisions. Slamming the PTI-led government for initiating dialogue with banned groups without taking Parliament into confidence, he said the time had come for national unity to counter the resurgence of terrorism. “We sowed the seeds of terrorism ourselves,” he regretted.
Referring to the national unity that had led to the anti-terror Zarb-e-Azb Operation, he said a similar initiative was needed now. He said a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting would soon be summoned to decide the state’s future action against all terrorist organizations. “Our desire to be an instrument of superpowers is very old. Pakistan is alone in the war against terrorism,” he said, adding that while Islamabad should maintain positive ties with Washington, it should no longer fight any conflicts at the U.S.’s behest or in its interest.
On Afghanistan, he hoped the country’s situation would improve and peace achieved, as it had a direct impact on conditions in Pakistan. “We want the betterment of Afghanistan. Peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan are interlinked,” he said, noting that Afghans who had fled to Pakistan during the past decade had never left. “450,000 Afghans came to Pakistan in the last four years and did not return [to their homeland],” he said, adding that he could not say how many of them might be terrorists.
Referring to former prime minister Imran Khan’s confirmation of seeking the resettlement of militants and their families in Pakistan, Asif indicated this had facilitated the return of terrorism to the country. “How could one expect that those who had never seen peace in their life would live peacefully,” he questioned.
Pakistan mourns
In his briefing, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said rescue operations had been completed and the Khorasani group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the Peshawar bombing. Regretting that 27 of the injured were critical, he lamented the death toll would likely continue to rise. “This attack is against Pakistan and its 22 crore people,” he said, while rejecting remarks from PTI dissident lawmaker Noor Alam Khan that Pashtuns were being discriminated against. “There is no discrimination between Lahore and Peshawar,” he said. “All of Pakistan has been victimized and every Pakistani is in mourning over the [mosque] attack,” he said, while acknowledging that there had been more terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa than elsewhere.
“The KP police, army, FC and law enforcement agencies have been sacrificing their lives every day. Recently a police station in Bannu was made hostage,” he said, stressing the perpetrators of these attacks “are the enemies of Pakistan.” He said investigations into past attacks had determined that suicide bombers were trained elsewhere and then sent all over Pakistan to incite terror.
Opining that Pakistan should never have helped train the mujahideen in the 1980s, he said: “We prepared them and now they have become terrorists.” He assured lawmakers that the prime minister, Army chief and ISI DG would come to the house to brief parliamentarians and seek their assistance. “We must triumph in the war against terrorism,” he emphasized.
“If I want, I can accuse the previous government of neglecting this matter and back it with evidence,” he said, alleging that the PTI-led government had allowed criminals that had been sentenced to death to walk free. “It is necessary that the prime minister and the military leadership take the house into confidence,” he said. “If that is not done, and the government formulates a policy without taking Parliament into confidence, it may make mistakes like the previous government,” he added.
Senate condemnations
A debate on the Peshawar bombing was also witnessed in the Senate, with lawmakers calling for revisiting the state’s counter-terrorism and Afghan policies. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani called for a new national consensus and slammed the PTI-led government for its plan to rehabilitate the banned TTP. Claiming that the “good Taliban” had been allowed to cross into Pakistan along with arms, he lamented that Parliament and the nation had not been taken into confidence over dialogue with the TTP and the subsequent ceasefire.
Referring to reports of a joint session of Parliament on Feb. 8, he demanded that it be devoted to the prevailing counterterrorism policy. Senators Mushahid Hussain Syed and Tahir Bizenjo also sought revision of Pakistan’s terror and Afghanistan policies.