ISLAMABAD – The massacre of Shia Hazara community echoed in the upper house of the Parliament for the second consecutive day as the lawmakers termed the incident failure of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, seeking explanation from the provincial law enforcers and the ministries of defence and interior on the issue.
Taking part in the debate on the adjournment motion moved by MQM Senator Tahir Hussain Mushhadi, on the bloodshed of Hazara people in Quetta, legislators proposed that heads of the law-enforcement agencies concerned and high-ups of the ministries of interior and defence should be summoned by the house for a detailed briefing on the issue. The house will continue the debate today (Wednesday) when it will meet at 4pm.
Senate Chairman Nayyer Hussain Bokhari observed that a resolution would have to be moved under the rules to convert the house into a committee to have briefings from the officials concerned. Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Ishaq Dar said they would meet all the procedural requirements in this connection.
Amid thin attendance of lawmakers in the house, Dar severely condemned Interior Minister Rehman Malik for his failure to brief the house in-camera on his statement that Pakistan was facing international conspiracies. He said a date should be fixed for the briefing of the interior minister. He also sought a joint statement from the ministries of interior and defence on the Hazara killings.
“The facts about the Quetta blasts should be presented to the house to make a way forward as there are serious lapses,” he said, adding the problem with Pakistan was non-implementation and nothing else. He also criticised the government for holding the oath-taking ceremony of Saleem Mandviwala as the new minister for finance at a time when the dead bodies of Hazaras were lying on roads. He said the result of the APC called by Awami National Party was not tangible.
The Senate chairman directed Leader of the House Jehangir Badr to talk to the Prime Minister to seek instructions from the government as to who would respond to a very sensitive issue.
Senator Farhatullah Babar said, “Now we are talking about intelligence failure and tomorrow it might be interpreted as deliberate negligence.” He said Lashker-e-Jhangvi activists, Usman Kurd and Daud Badani, were awarded death sentence in November 2003 by an anti-terrorism court, but on January 18, 2009, they escaped from the jail mysteriously at a time when a transition from dictatorship to democracy was in process. He said the minister concerned should throw light on the escape of the two terrorists as no formal inquiry into it was ever conducted.
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F said some very powerful forces were behind the Balochistan and Karachi situation. He blamed the US for spreading terrorism in the region. He said even the governor’s rule could not solve the problem and now the army was being named. He said army was no solution to the problem as it could not keep peace in Swat and the tribal areas of the country. “Rs 2.50 billion are being spent on the FC from the provincial budget of Balochistan,” he said, questioning how it would bring peace as it was a beneficiary. He stressed the need for the security institutions and intelligence agencies to filter out their internal mechanism and said they should have the courage to stop terrorist activities.
Meanwhile, the JUI-F staged a walkout as Haideri said the indifferent attitude of the government on the issue was unbearable. Mohsin Legari, an independent member, stressed the need for the passage of the anti-terrorism bill pending with the Parliament for several years. He pointed out that foreign funding was involved in the unrest of the country, which should be stopped following the example of Sri Lanka that fought Taamal Tigers. “We have become a playground for a proxy war,” he said and urged the need for a witness protection plan.
Rafique Rajwana of PML-N suggested the constitution of a committee with the mandate to probe the Quetta blasts. Mir Hasil Bazenjo told the house that during the last two and a half years, over 3,150 people – 1,300 non-Baloch, 850 Baloch and over 1,000 Hazaras – had been killed in Balochistan.
He said the involvement of international forces for spoiling the law and order situation in Pakistan could not be ruled out as similar attacks were carried out on Shia Muslims in Baghdad, Damascus and Quetta on one day. He called for summoning the law enforcers and high-ups of the relevant ministries in the house to have a briefing on the massive killings in Balochistan, especially Persian-speaking Shias, and the measures taken to counter such incidents.
Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi said Quaid-e-Azam wanted a liberal, modern and democratic Pakistan, but today’s Pakistan was devoid of such features.