LAHORE, June 2: Deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan demanded on Wednesday that policies which had increased the number of acts of terrorism in the country should be condemned.

He was speaking on a point of order while criticizing the wording of a resolution tabled in the Punjab Assembly for expressing sympathy with Karachiites over the recent terrorist acts.

He said the PML-N very much shared the grief of movers of the resolution over the Karachi incidents but felt that the statement was incomplete. Only terrorism had been condemned and not those whose policies provoked terrorists into making Pakistan their target, he added.

He contested the impression being given by the media as well as the general public that Karachi police or the administration had failed to handle the situation. "It is a failure of the FBI that has been busy capturing and interrogating local citizens.

It is a failure of the intelligence agencies and the United States," he said, adding that it was the outcome of the new Afghan policy adopted in the hope of "rain of dollars" and to make one's dictatorial rule acceptable to the world.

While expressing sympathies with the victims, the reason due to which the country became a target of terrorism should also be condemned, he demanded. Parliamentary secretary (colonies) Waris Kahlun alleged that Rana Sana was playing politics on the bodies of Karachi blast victims.

He said the present government had to suffer for the wrongdoings of the past rulers. When PPP's Shafqat Abbasi stood up to criticize the resolution, law minister Raja Basharat said Mr Abbasi had no right to speak against the resolution, as his party's acting parliamentary leader Rana Aftab had signed it.

He clarified that contents of the resolution had been kept brief to avoid the possibility of it being considered interference in the affairs of another province (Sindh). He also reminded the Rana that the country had got rid of the IMF only due to Gen Musharraf's policies.

Admitting that sporadic acts of terrorism were taking place in the country after its becoming a front-line state in the war on terror, he said had the rulers taken some other decision the results could have been even worse. He thanked the PPP and MMA legislators for supporting the resolution, which was later unanimously adopted by the house.

IRREGULAR TAXATION: Rana Sana forced Raja Basharat, who also holds the portfolio of local bodies, to play on the back foot with regard to weak control of the provincial government over district Nazimeen.