Stressing the need to root out the menace of terrorism, PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed has demanded of the government to immediately call an All Parties Conference (APC).
Addressing a press conference flanked by PML-Q Information Secretary, Tariq Azim and MNA Marvi Memon here on Sunday, he said that the government should immediately call an APC to chalk out strategy to combat the scourge of terrorism as the existing security system has either collapsed or failed to deliver.
They condemned the attack on FC post in Islamabad on Saturday and suicide blast at a mosque in Chakwal on Sunday and termed it as a crime against humanity and demanded the government to nab the perpetrators. They said the indigenously-generated extremism and terrorism must be combated by the state and people of Pakistan collectively, and we should now stop being in denial of this grave threat. Mushahid said that the crisis is now beyond one person, party, institution and government alone to resolve. He proposed a 4-point plan to combat terrorism.
The first point of the plan suggested the government to convene an APC to formulate a collective national response to combat terrorism. Second point called on the government to establish a special Anti-Terrorism Office (ATO) in PM secretariat with a Situation Room that should 24 hourly monitor, track and combat terrorists and terrorism through a highly professional team of intelligence and forensic experts, political analysts, investigators and psychologists doing research & analysis. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Special Branch of police in the provinces should be dedicated solely to combating terrorism, rather than tapping phones of journalists and opposition politicians.
Third point of the plan proposed to launch nation-wide media awareness scheme to educate, motivate and mobilise the people against terrorism. Lastly the fourth point proposed a national alliance against terrorism and extremism should be formed, beyond the political divide, to include the political forces, civil society and media, similar to the nation-wide popular upsurge on the restoration of the judiciary and rule of law, so that it is a sustained campaign to mobilise the people on this common threat.
Mushahid urged the political parties to go beyond political confrontation and the politics of power that detracts from a common united front against terrorism. He said that the government should brief US presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke as he arrives here on Monday (today) to stop drone attacks as it has destabilised Pakistan. "If President Obama says no blank cheque for Pakistan, then Pakistan should insist that it cannot accept US military or civil aid with restrictions or conditions", he added.
Criticising the Obamas plan for its statement that Pakistan and Afghanistan would be treated as one theatre of operations, he said, adding that it is tantamount to erasing the Durand Line border between Pakistan & Afghanistan.
Furthermore, he said that the US, conversely, is keen that the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir should be accepted as the international boundary between Pakistan and India. He strongly criticised the appointment of Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen as Nato secretary general given his insensitivity to Muslims during the Danish blasphemous caricatures crisis, and said that since Nato was now heavily involved in Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
Comments
Comments are closed.