ISLAMABAD: Senators from opposition as well as treasury benches on Tuesday criticised the government’s policy of holding talks with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and said it betrayed “weakness of the state”.

Speaking on points of order, the senators said Monday’s terrorist attack on Islamabad courts revealed a “serious security lapse” and “failure of the state”.

In their hard-hitting speeches, the opposition senators lashed out at Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for not coming to the house to brief them on the incident and refused to listen to his deputy Balighur Rehman.

The Leader of Opposition in the Senate, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, even declared the prime minister and the interior minister “absconders” and the PPP’s parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani asked Chaudhry Nisar to resign in the wake of the attack that had take place despite his tall claims about security arrangements in the capital city.

As soon as Mr Rehman stood up to respond to the speeches by both the sides, the opposition members started desk-thumping and shouting “no, no”. Later, they staged a walkout from the house, leaving behind PPP’s Saeed Ghani to point out lack of quorum. This was for the third time that the opposition disrupted the proceedings by staging walkout and pointing out lack of quorum during the current session of the Senate, forcing Chairman Nayyar Bokhari to adjourn the sitting.

Earlier, the government received criticism from all directions when even senators from the treasury benches opposed the peace talks.

PML-N leader Mohammad Hamza said the decision to hold talks with militants was a sign of government’s weakness. He said the government should not have opened talks with Taliban who were involved in killing civilians and security personnel.

Aitzaz Ahsan said the Taliban announced a ceasefire whenever they were in trouble. They should not be given time and an immediate action should be taken against them to stop their brutalities. He regretted that the interior ministry did not even know the number of terrorists who had stormed the courts.

Raza Rabbani recalled that the minister had once stated that he would quit his office if he failed to improve the security situation in a year. “The nation is now looking towards him to see when he will fulfil his commitment as one year is about to end.”

He said the minister had announced that a rapid response force had been constituted that would reach the place of a terrorist act in seven minutes. “Where was the force? The terrorists remained there for 44 minutes. Why did not the force reach there,” he asked.

Babar Ghouri of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement asked the government to identify those responsible for the court attack. He alleged that the intelligence agencies were busy in tapping phone calls of politicians and had given a free hand to the terrorists.

If a small splinter group of Taliban could perform such an act, he said, then one could imagine the ability of the main group to strike anywhere in the country.

He said the army was willing to attack terrorists and the nation wanted it to do so.

Hasil Bazenjo of the National Party said no government could hold negotiations with terrorists. He advised the government not to wait for a consensus on the issue because religious parties would always oppose military action against Taliban. He advised the government to convene a multi-party conference for reviewing its policy on Taliban.

“If we do not fight and fail to win this war (against terrorism), the state will not remain in its present shape,” he warned.

The NP leader regretted that members of banned organisations, who should be behind the bars, were openly addressing public rallies.

Abdul Nabi Bangash of the Awami National Party questioned the role of Maulana Samiul Haq in the process of peace talks on the ground that his party had no representation in parliament. He said people and the army were on the same page but the government was not. “This is the time to act and not to hold talks.”

Referring to the claim of the TTP that it was not involved in the Islamabad attack, another ruling party senator, Rafique Rajwana, said it should be assessed whether the militants were telling the truth.

Amid slogans of “shame, shame,” PML-Q’s Kamil Ali Agha said the interior minister had visited the Islamabad courts only after getting assurance from the administration that there was no more threat and that it was safe to visit the place.