ISLAMABAD - The Senate continued discussion on political and law and order situation in the country when the Upper House resumed with Chairman Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari on Thursday.
Taking part in the discussion PPP senior leader Senator Farhatullah Babar said that historically there has been a serious disconnects between the civil and political arm on the one hand and the intelligence and security arm of the government on the other, which was a serious impediment in the fight against militancy. He said that the government had to factor this disconnect in its anti-militancy policy.
He said that this disconnect has already been dramatised by incidents like the discovery of OBL from Abbottabad, the public admission made by General Musharraf in his book that tons of nuclear material had been smuggled out of Pakistan in a massive global proliferation of nuclear weapon and the kidnapping and subsequent disappearance and dumping of bodies in Balochistan.
He said that although this disconnect had been admitted by the interior minister during his address in the Senate in June last year during discussion on Ziarat Residency attack and promised to address it also but the government had failed to do so.
He said that admission by Mufti Hassan Swati, a Shura member of TTP, that the latest suicide attack in Peshawar targeting Shia Muslims had been carried out by his group at the instance of deputy commander of TTP Shaikh Khalid Haqqani should allay any doubts about the real intentions of the militants. He said that Gul Mast who is shown sitting with Hassan Swati in the picture is the one who was paraded by the security establishment as national hero after the Charar Shairf incident in Indian Kashmir and which demonstrated the vast difference in the world view of the civil and security and intelligence establishments.
Senator Farhatullah Babar also criticised the Minister’s statement that if the under-construction nuclear power plants in Karachi exploded it would only impact people in five to 6 kilometres radius. By making such a thoughtless statement the minister had only sown the seeds of doubt in the mind of the people and done a great disservice to the nation’s nuclear programme. He said that the minister should have assured the nation that the plants had been designed so as to withstand the blow of an aircraft rammed into it which he said was a fact. He asked that the minister should withdraw his statement.
Senator Afrasyab Khattak from ANP while speaking on the motion said the government has no policy to counter terrorism. He said that peace talks between the government and Taliban would end up with allegations and counter allegations from both sides.
Responding to the points raised by the senators, Leader of the House in Senate Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq said there might be ups and downs but the government is sincere in its efforts. He said that after due consideration during all parties conferences and consultations with the political leadership the decision was made by the government to give peace a chance. He said there are some forces which want to sabotage the dialogue process but the government is confident that the process will yield positive results.