ISLAMABAD, April 30: The National Assembly on Monday unanimously condemned the suicide attack at a public meeting addressed by interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao in Charsadda, which left 31 people dead and 52 others injured. It called the incident an act of terrorism and expressed sympathies with families of the victims.

The house unanimously adopted a resolution which called upon the government to extend all sorts of support to families of the victims.

The resolution, moved by over a dozen lawmakers from the Treasury and the opposition, was read out by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi.

At the outset of the proceedings, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said that many members sought an early adjournment of proceedings because they wanted to go back their homes to celebrate the May 1 holiday. Therefore, he said, he allowed over a dozen identical adjournment motions seeking debate on the Charsadda suicide attack to be taken up together.During the debate, opposition lawmakers criticised the government’s role in the war on terror and government’s what they called its mishandling of the situation in tribal areas. They said the government’s frontline role in the war on terror had led to increased incidents of suicide bombings in different parts of the country.

The Speaker also suspended rules to allow Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan to speak on the matter.

The minister, who appeared composed, told the House in a voice chocked with emotions, that he could not forget the agony of those whose near and dear ones had been killed in the blast, and appealed to lawmakers to extend their full support to the families which lost their breadwinners. He pledged to take full care of the families of the victims and to compensate them adequately.

MMA lawmaker from the Waziristan, Syed Nek Zaman, criticised the government’s policy in Fata areas, and said that the situation could aggravate if immediate remedial steps were not taken. He said as long as American planes continued to bomb tribal areas and force was used against the people, peace would always be a dream in settled areas.

Shahabuddin Khan of the ANP from Bajaur said that unless the people of tribal areas were brought into the mainstream settled areas and their unlawful armies disbanded, peace could not be restored in the area.

Condemning the terrorist attack in which so many precious and innocent lives were lost, PPP’s Raja Parvaiz Ashraf asserted that the wave of terrorism could only be halted by a truly elected government.

He said the use of military might could only fuel acts of terrorism because it was the job of an elected government to resolve issues through consultations.