HYDERABAD, April 16: Acting president of the PML-N Sindh chapter, Mr Saleem Zia, has termed the federal and Sindh governments security risks for the country and demanded their removal in the larger interest of Pakistan.
He said a national government should be formed and fresh elections be held under an independent and autonomous election commission after the return of Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto.
Speaking at a news conference at the Hyderabad press club here on Sunday, he expressed grief over the Nishtar Park carnage, saying that following the stampede at the Faizan-i-Madina, it had been expected that the government and the agencies would become more vigilant, but it had not been the case.
He deplored what he termed contradictory statements and clarifications issued by responsible government functionaries on the Nishtar Park tragedy.
When the president, the prime minister and some other important people visited Karachi, strict security arrangements were put in place, jamming traffic for hours, even at the cost of the lives of patients needing immediate medical attention.
However, on the 12th Rabiul Awwal when tens of thousands of people had converged on Nishtar Park, the government had made no strict security arrangements, he alleged.
Saleem Zia said he had been near the Nishtar Park on the day of the explosion, but he had not seen any policeman or a member of paramilitary staff around the Nishtar Park. Even security cameras, which were usually installed to monitor security situation, had not been set up, he added.
Saleem Zia said that soon after the incident, responsible government functionaries had declared the incident a suicide bombing. He said that by dubbing the case as suicide bombing, the government became the judge, the jury and the executioner.
He said following conflicting clarifications, it had become necessary that the incident should be investigated by a high-level inquiry committee headed by at least a judge of the Supreme Court.
He accused the government of criminal negligence and branded the federal and Sindh governments as security risk.
He was highly critical of the statement of Federal Minister for Information Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed that had suggested a sectarian involvement in the blast. Shaikh Rasheed was toeing the line of the West, he said.
He also condemned the ongoing operation in Balochistan and north and south Waziristan, and said that the federal government was an extension of the martial law.
Sindh PML-N provincial secretary information and senior vice president ARD Mr Zahid Rafique Butt and other provincial and local party leaders, Tariq Khan, Malik Naeem Awan, Khalid Aziz Arain, Afzal Gujjar, Rafique Lodhi and Kanwar Jaffar were present on the occasion.
