PML-N government severely criticised over its apathy: National Assembly condemns Shikarpur carnage

The National Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution condemning the cowardly suicide blast during the Juma prayer in Shikarpur in which over 60 people were martyred. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government warned that more terrorism incident may occur in response to the on-going military operation "Zarb-e-Azb" against terrorists in North Waziristan.
The resolution was moved by Minister for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada in the house. The house unanimously adopted the resolution. The resolution says, "this house vociferously condemns the suicide blast that killed over 60 people and left numerous injured in Shikarpur on January 30, 2015; stands in solidarity with the victims and bereaved families; vehemently denounces this and all other acts of terrorism and recommends that the Government intensify its efforts in achieving the goals set in the National Action Plan to eliminate the scourge of terrorism from Pakistan."
While debating on the incident of Shikarpur and responding the members of the National Assembly, Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lieutenant General (Retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch told the House that "we should be ready for terrorism incidents as terrorists might strike after the army action launched against them".
He said the federal government was fully supporting and providing every kind of assistance to the provinces to fight terrorism in the country. He said the federal government was ready for providing more assistance to the provinces to maintain law and order and to face challenges of terrorism.
"There is need of intelligence sharing and co-operation between the provincial and federal governments. It is first priority of the federal government to curb terrorism and for this purpose the federal government will not show any negligence for providing technical and other assistance to the provinces. There is also need to de-politicise the law-enforcement agencies to maintain law and order in the country," the Minister said.
The house was summoned to discuss the petrol crisis which hit the country recently, but the focus shifted on the Shikarpur carnage as the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) sought to debate the tragedy.
The proceedings of the house were suspended by adopting two motions moved by Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP and Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab to discuss the incident of Shikarpur. While debating on the terrorist attack in Shikarpur, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah severely criticised the federal government for showing total apathy towards the Shikarpur terrorist attack and deplored the Prime Minister and federal ministers for not visiting Shikarpur despite their presence in Karachi on that particular day.
"The Prime Minister and other senior members of the cabinet were present in Karachi on that day but they did not visit the place of the terrorist attack. If the Prime Minister was busy, he could have sent any minister for showing sympathy with the victims of the incident but he did not do so," he said.
Shah called it the double standards of the federal government saying whole cabinet rushed to Peshawar after the Army Public School attack but showed total apathy to the Shikarpur carnage. "We also showed sympathy with the Army Public School victims, but all people rushed to Peshawar because it was owned by the Army," Shah questioned and added the people of Sindh badly felt the callousness of the federal government when the incident of same magnitude occurred in Shikarpur.
The opposition leader also took strong exception to the non-seriousness of ministers in the front row who were busy in talking and laughing when he was speaking, which also triggered "shame, shame" slogans from PPP members. "This is level of seriousness that 60 people perished in Shikarpur and they are laughing here in the house," he remarked which embarrassed the treasury and a complete silence enveloped the treasury benches in the remaining part of his speech.
Shah also called the Shikarpur incident intelligence failure and believed that terrorism couldn't be eliminated until intelligence network is improved and NACTA (National Counter-Terrorism Authority) is strengthened. The government ally PML-F MNA Ghous Bux Mahar also endorsed Khursheed Shah over government's non-seriousness and said the Prime Minister and federal ministers didn't bother to visit the area to condole with the bereaved families.
"Is it the democracy and national character that no one from the federal government cared about Shikarpur?" he castigated. JUI-F's MNA Maulana Amir Zaman also criticised the attitude of the federal government and remarked the Prime Minister went to Karachi over the killing of one person but didn't go to Shikarpur where over 60 people were killed in terrorism act.
Condemning the Shikarpur carnage, MQM's Saman Sultana Jafari said that unless the mindset fanning terrorism should be eliminated, all the efforts in this regard will prove futile. Jamaat-i-Islami's Sahibzada Tariqullah demanded a judicial inquiry into the Shikarpur incident and regretted that "we didn't show the unanimity on the Shikarpur incident like the Army Public School in Peshawar. Aftab Shahban Mirani described the incident as unfortunate. He said both federal and provincial governments' representatives should visit Shikarpur to express solidarity with the bereaved families.
Aftab Khan Sherpao condemning the incident said that until terrorism is eliminated, the country couldn't move on other fronts like economy and suggested that intelligence system should be strengthened as it is the only solution to curb the menace of terrorism. Fahmida Mirza, Jamshed Dasti, Major (Retd) Tahir Iqbal and others also spoke on the issue on the floor of the house.