ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: The opposition voiced an almost total disbelief in the government's claim that its own forces had carried out a deadly missile strike on a Bajaur madressah last month, on the second day of a Senate debate on Monday.
Most opposition Senators blamed the 83 deaths in the October 30 incident on the US forces in Afghanistan, with some calling it an ‘extra-judicial’ massacre, as opposition groups seemed to be closing their ranks after recent differences over the passage of the women's rights bill in parliament.
The opposition-sought debate over the Bajaur strike and an apparently retaliatory suicide bombing that killed 42 army recruits on November 8 at Dargai in the NWFP had begun on Friday before the house was adjourned for a two-day weekend. The debate will continue on Tuesday, likely to be wound up by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao in the evening.
Government spokesmen have said the strike was carried out by Pakistani forces after intelligence reports that the madressah was being used to train militants for terrorist activities such as suicide bombing.
But opposition parties and most residents of the area have said the madressah was attacked early on October 30 by an unmanned US drone that came from Afghanistan. They see the government claims only a move to escape embarrassment of permitting the second such US attack in the area in 10 months.
Monday's discussion, in which nine Senators spoke, was an all-opposition affair which saw the PPP Parliamentarians joining voice with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) in condemning the Bajaur attack although it had earned the MMA's ire for supporting the government's Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill in both houses of parliament.
The only exception among a total of nine opposition speakers for the day was Abdul Rahim Mandokhel of the Pashtunkhawa Milli Awami Party who supported the government view that the head of the Bajaur madressah was actually a militant commander who used his students as a ‘human shield’.
PPP's Senator Farooq Naek described the attack as a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter, and said: "Allegations of extra-judicial killings should be investigated and those responsible brought to justice."
The most severe criticism of the government came from the MMA, mainly directed against President General Pervez Musharraf for making Pakistan an ally in the so-called US-led war on terrorism and deploying troops in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
"General Musharraf has placed Pakistan between the devil and the deep sea," said MMA's Prof Mohammad Ibrahim, who also called for the removal of the president.
"What else than this is called extra-judicial killing?" asked PML-N parliamentary group leader Ishaq Dar who called for learning lessons from the separation of East Pakistan while dealing with Balochistan and tribal areas.
Earlier, deputy chairman of the house Jan Mohammad Jamali, who chaired the day's proceedings, disallowed an adjournment motion moved by PPP's Rukhsana Zuberi for a debate on non-reduction in the prices of petroleum products in the country, after the move was opposed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi.
