PESHAWAR, Nov 8: NWFP lawmakers on Wednesday condemned the suicide attack on an army training centre in Malakand and termed it a horrifying outcome of the policies of the military regime, which was opposed to all kinds of democratic norms.
When the house commenced its proceedings, Muzaffar Said of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal drew its attention towards the mysterious disappearance of three people from a city hospital, who had been injured in the air attack on a seminary in Bajaur on Oct 30.
Mr Said asked the government to inform the house who had taken them away from a private hospital. He he said that under-training jawans were killed in an explosion in Dargai on Wednesday morning. He said it was a shocking news and the house should condemn it.
Khalil Abbas of the Awami National Party told the house that according to his information scores of armymen were killed in a suicide attack.
Mr Abbas said it was a great national loss, because they were defenders of the country.
He said the incident occurred within the jurisdication of the provincial government and it was responsible for it. He held the MMA responsible for strengthening President Gen Pervez Musharraf and asked the (MMA) to quit the Balochistan government.
Mohammad Ali Bacha of the People's Party Parliamentarians said the tragic incident occurred in his constituency and urged the MMA government to unveil terrorists group involved in it.
Mushatq Ghani of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League termed it an act of terrorism and said that Pakistan was being punished for its present frontline role on the war on terrorism. It was a duty of the state to root out terrorism, he added.
Abdul Akbar Khan of the PPP said his party condemned the suicide attack and thought it a chain-reaction of the previous security operations launched in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). He said it was a logical outcome of the Bajaur bombing wherein innocent children were killed in a seminary.
Mr Khan said the governor was a constitutional head of the province, but culprits had not spared him and fired rockets while he was addressing a tribal jirga in Wana on Tuesday. He feared that culprits might also hit the chief minister and provincial assembly.
The PPP lawmaker said that Pakistan was being run by an all powerful dictator who had no respect for the elected parliament, democratic norms and human rights. “Dictators don't care for people and this is the main difference between dictatorship and democracy,” he added.
He said unless all national policies were made in line with people’s aspirations, the country would continue to suffer at the hands of adventurists.
Mr Khan said Pukhtuns were being killed on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border and they would have to decide about their problems.
Bashir Ahmed Bilour said the dragon of lawlessness had entered the settled areas after wrecking havoc in Fata. The government had abolished the role of mosque and hujra in the affairs of tribesmen and opted for the use of brutal force, he added.
Shah Raz Khan of the MMA denied that the attack on the Punjab Regiment Centre was a reaction of the Bajaur bombing. He said both the incidents - Bajaur and Dargai - were handy work of the one evil force.
He asked Islamabad to remove its cowardice and follow into the footstep of Iran and North Korea and hold the national pride in high esteem.
Maulana Mujahid of the MMA held the federal interior minister responsible for the incident and asked him to resign forthwith, but Sardar Israrullah Gandapur of the PPP (Sherpao) made a quick response and asked him (Mujahid) to refrain from making cheap and apolitical statement in the House.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Malik Zafar Azam said it was tragic and condemnable incident which claimed lives of 35 innocent jawans. He said: “We condemn Bajaur and Dargai incidents. NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani had proposed two years ago to Islamabad to focus on jirga system instead of using force in Fata. We are ready to send a joint parliamentary delegation to Islamabad on the issue of growing lawlessness in Fata.”
The minister said that the entire nation was being punished for the wrongdoings of the dictator, who was not answerable to any forum in the country.
