Daish, Taliban & LeJ: former interior minister urges nation to unite against 'troika'

Senator Rehman Malik, a former interior minister of Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) on Friday said the nation needed to be united against the troika of Daish or ISIS, Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) as it posed a serious threat to the security of the country.
Speaking in Senate, the former interior minister said that after the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the sprawling Badaber Airbase of Pakistan Air Force in Peshawar, the Prime Minister must convene an all parties' conference to root out the menace of terrorism by taking all political parties into confidence.
"This is high time the PM must convene a meeting of all political parties to break the nexus of the troika (Daish, Taliban and LeJ), as they have been active once again and targeting the sensitive installations," he added. He also demanded an in-camera briefing to the house about the ongoing military operation Zarb-e-Azb in tribal areas against the terrorists, saying "we are the elected representatives of the people, and the government must brief about the security matters in the country."
"We used to hold such briefings for the parliamentarians when we were in power, but this government is not ready to take the house into confidence on issues related to the security of the country especially on the operation Zarb-e-Azb," he lamented. The Upper House of Parliament condemned the attack on PAF base in Peshawar by militants, in the strongest possible terms. The House unanimously declared that the whole nation stood by the armed forces of Pakistan, adding the cowardly attacks by terrorists could not deter the nation's resolve.
Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said the House condemned the cowardly attack on the PAF Airbase by the terrorists, adding it should be clear that the militants could not bring down the resolve of the nation against the menace of terrorism.
"We salute those who lost their precious lives by defending the motherland...this shows that the entire nation has resolved to wipeout the menace of terrorism," he maintained. Senator Ilyas Bilour of Awami National Party (ANP) stressed the need to improve the relations with Afghanistan, saying Afghanistan must come forward to improve the relations between the two countries. He said President Ashraf Ghani should continue his policy bolster relations between the two neighbours to ensure peace in the region and get rid of militancy and terrorism, as it was a common enemy.
Senator Javed Abbasi of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said the parliament must give a loud and clear message that the whole nation stood by the armed forces, and the fight against the militancy would continue till elimination of last terrorist. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed called for an investigation into the attack on PAF base, saying there could be some security breach, as the militants still manage to hit sensitive installations despite success of operation Zarb-e-Azb.
He said India was actively involved in proxy war inside Pakistan, and there was a need to counter the nefarious motives of the enemy, adding a through probe into the incident should be held so that it must not happen next time. Senator Attaur Rehman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) questioned if that was the war of Pakistan, why billions of dollars were being drawn from the US Coalition Support Fund (CSF). The JUI-F cleric said his party also extended support to the military in fight against the terrorists after Peshawar school massacre. "The 21st amendment was passed to fight against the militants, but it ended up in setting up of military courts," he lamented.