News Analysis |
Blasts in Quetta caused widespread panic among the masses that were otherwise in a peaceful environment after successful operations carried out by Pakistan army and other law enforcement agencies.
According to the details, in a debate on the law and order situation in the province, lawmakers in the provincial assembly recalled that three bomb attacks occurred in the heart of the city recently in which over a dozen lives were lost and up to 60 people suffered injuries. The session in the absence of Speaker Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo and Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Khan Musakhail was chaired by a member of the panel of chairmen, Mir Ahmed Nawaz Baloch.
The house offered fateha for over 70 people, mostly lawyers, who died in a bomb attack at Civil Hospital, three years ago.
MPAs Malik Naseer Shahwani, Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, Finance Minister Mir Zahoor Buledi, Syed Fazal Agha, Leader of Opposition Malik Sikandar and others expressed serious concern over the failure of the police to arrest any of the terrorists involved in this inhumane act despite the passage of three years.
Prime Minister Imran Khan also said during a meeting with the federal cabinet that his government was taking action against banned organizations in the best national interest.
Qadir Nayal of the Hazara Democratic Party, Nasarullah Zerey of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Akhtar Hussain Langove, provincial ministers Zamarak Khan Piralizai, Saleem Ahmed Khosa and Malik Naseer Ahmed Shahwani spoke at length on the law and order issue.
Members on both sides of the aisle underlined the need for unity among opposition and treasury benches in the fight against terrorism. “We have buried more than 80 bodies of leaders and workers of the BNP-Mengal who became victims of terrorism,” Akhtar Hussain Langove said.
Qadir Nayal mentioned that since 1999, over 2,000 people from the Hazara community have lost their lives in terrorist attacks. “The government should set up a commission for probing the genocide of the Hazara community,” Mr Nayal suggested. Provincial minister Mir Saleem Ahmed Khosa said that hundreds of security personnel from the police, Frontier Corps and Pakistan Army had laid down their lives in the line of duty to protect the masses. He noted that the situation did improve to an extent which was due to the sacrifices rendered by the security forces.
Read more: Will Baluchistan get its rights in Naya Pakistan?
Separatist elements in Balochistan targeted security personnel multiple times. Resultantly, many soldiers embraced martyrdom.
Implementation of NAP
Prime Minister Imran Khan also said during a meeting with the federal cabinet that his government was taking action against banned organizations in the best national interest. PM Khan reportedly made it clear that anybody who challenges the writ of the state shall not be spared.
It is worth noting that while chairing PTI’s parliamentary party meeting, the premier clarified that the crackdown on banned militant outfits was an internal security matter and the government had taken the decision without any external pressure.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that the PTI government was determined to implement NAP across the country. The Federal Minister was on a TV talk show when he made it clear that the government has made its mind that national discourse in the country needs to be reformed to make Pakistan a truly welfare state.
Read more: India raises the ante in proxy terrorism in Baluchistan
In March this year, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has assured the government of full cooperation in the implementation of the NAP. Local media reported that the Pakistan Army top brass agreed to supplement the government’s efforts to implement the NAP, and expressed their resolve to defend the motherland against any misadventure or aggression from across the border.
Army chief, while addressing the 219th Corps Commanders Conference at the General Headquarters that Pakistan is on the positive trajectory of peace, stability, and progress. “No one can make us budge through use or threat of force. Similarly, policy and the right of use of force shall remain the prerogative of the state alone,” the army chief said while discussing NAP’s progress.