ISLAMABAD: There was a virtual hush in the National Assembly on Monday where the government was expected to respond to overnight threats by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan to “shut down” three major cities and then the entire country to advance his anti-government campaign.

While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not attend the assembly session, some of his cabinet members who did, including Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan being the senior-most among them, remained tight-lipped about what was the hottest subject discussed in parliament’s corridors and around the country.

Read| Imran's Plan C: Paralyse major cities, paralyse Pakistan

Whether this show of unconcern was by design or because of an absence of party line by then, an apparently cooperative opposition also avoided talking about what the PTI chief had called his “Plan C” following a 109-day and still continuing sit-in in Islamabad and rallies in different cities.

SOLITARY RIDICULE AND HOPE: It was only at the end of the day that a back-bencher but an active member of the PML-N, Marvi Memon, criticised Imran Khan for his “Plan C” and “Plan D” which, according to him, would be difficult for the government to cope with.

But Ms Memon’s criticism, in a speech during a debate on President Mamnoon Hussain’s address to June 2 joint session of parliament, was tinged with an expression of hope that the PTI, which has boycotted the National Assembly since mid-August with over 30 of its members sending their resignation, would return to the house.

Describing the aim of PTI’s “Plan C” as “to choke Pakistan” and that of “Plan D” as “to destroy the country”, she said neither plan would materialise, adding that it was time for the two sides to talk.

During a discussion in which 18 members from both sides of the house condemned Saturday’s killing of Jamiat Ulem-i-Islam-F leader Khalid Mehmood Soomro in Sukkur, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai criticised intelligence agencies for failing to prevent terrorist attacks.

Recalling terrorist attacks or attempt to assault political leaders over the past many years — including those on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Jamiat Ulem-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Sherpao and Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali — Mr Achakzai said about six intelligence agencies working in the country should know who were the perpetrators of the crimes.

“If the intelligence agencies don’t know them, then where is the state? And if they know them and don’t identify them, it is more dangerous,” he said.

The house unanimously adopted a government-moved resolution, condemning the killing of Dr Soomro as a conspiracy against the country’s stability and the JUI’s “struggle for peace”.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2014