Ethnic Hazara Shia women hold placards during a demonstration in Quetta on Wednesday to condemn the shootout in Mastung by unidentified gunmen a day earlier. – Photo by Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Legislators belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-N and Jamaat-i-Islami submitted adjournment motions to the National Assembly and Senate secretariats on Wednesday seeking debates on the killing of 29 people in Tuesday’s sectarian attack in Balochistan.

The motions filed by nine PML-N MNAs and three JI senators regretted the poor law and order situation in Balochistan and termed the Mastung incident a failure of the provincial government.

“It is the responsibility of the state to provide protection to life and property of every citizen.

‘‘However, today the state has failed to fulfil its constitutional responsibility,” the motion submitted by the MNAs said.

They expressed concern over an increase in incidents of target killing in Balochistan which, they said, had already been facing a critical situation.

They alleged that both the federal and provincial governments were playing the role of silent spectators while the sense of deprivation was increasing among the people of the province.

They called for a comprehensive policy to deal with the law and order situation in Balochistan after a thorough debate in parliament.

The PML-N MNAs who have filed the motion are Pervez Malik, Rana Mehmoodul Hassan, Raja Mohammad Asad, Tahira Aurangzeb, Waseem Akhtar Sheikh, Nuzhat Sadiq, Malik Shakir Bashir Awan, Nighat Perveen and Nisar Tanveer.

Prof Khurshid Ahmed, Prof Mohammad Ibrahim and Afia Zia of the JI have submitted the motion to the Senate secretariat.

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