Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Defence Minister KhawajaAsif on Sunday blasted the PTI, saying they hadn’t changed their May 9 stance, as the opposition members resorting to sloganeering in an attempt to disrupt his speech in the National Assembly.
The minister said that the opposition was “standing with the terrorists”, not the country as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vehemently opposed operation “Azm-e-Istehkam”. The opposition is neither with the people nor the country, said the minister who added they were working on protecting their persona interests, not that of the country amid the opposition members chanting slogans against the proposed Operation Azm-i-Istehkam to root out terrorism from erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and other parts of Pakistan. The move comes as the country has witnessed a significant surge in terrorist attacks in recent months resulting in scores of both civilian and security forces’ casualties.
He said the PTI members – who are currently united under the banner of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in legislatures after being elected independents in February 8 elections – represented the May 9 episode and would do the same in the future too. KhawajaAsif said the treasury benches wanted to introduce a resolution in the House in favour of minorities who were not safe in Pakistan, but
the opposition wasn’t even allowing him to discuss a serious issue.
Mobs and groups were killing people in Swat and Faisalabad, he said, adding that the even smaller Muslim sects remained unsafe even through Islam didn’t committing murders in the name of religion. The constitution guaranteed the minorities’ right and the state was responsible for protecting them, said the minister in unequivocal terms, as he wondered why the opposition wanted to silence the voice through their protest.
As KhawajaAsif started his speech, he said minorities were completely insecure in the same of religion, causing embarrassment to Pakistan internationally. During his speech, he said the decisions made in the Apex Committee about the planned Operation Azm-i-Istehkam would be put before the federal cabinet besides tabling the matter before the parliament – a plan approved by an Apex Committee meeting held to review the National Action Plan (NAP).
The opposition could share their reservations during the debate, said KhawajaAsif who mentioned that their leader – PTI founding chairman Imran Khan – was also used to change his stance and they were just mimicking him.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar told reporters outside the Parliament House that no operation could be conducted without taking the House into confidence, adding that absence of opposition represented dictatorship, not democracy.
Asad Qaiser – a former speaker – said they did not support any military operation and the parliament wasn’t being consulted on the subject by bypassing the legislature while taking such a massive decision. Claiming that the none of the military action has proved successful in the past, he said they wanted peace but against committing excesses, while describing it as a “martial law mentality”.
“On one hand, you are launching an operation and, on the other, you are imposing taxes on Fata and Pata [formerly Provincially Administered Tribal Areas],” he argued.
Similarly, Leader of Opposition Omar Ayub said “we cannot push ourself into someone else’s war” and termed the budget as “economic terrorism”.
