Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the National Assembly Thursday vowed to curb the menace of terrorism and extremism with effective strategy to be formulated by the parliament.
He was responding to the concerns of the parliamentarians during a debate in the lower house over the deteriorating law and order situation amid the twin suicide bombings that rocked the Asia's biggest ordnance factory in Wah where around 100 innocent people were killed and hundreds injured.
"We will not show leniency to anyone who challenges the writ of the government and it would be left to the parliament to formulate effective strategy to deal with the miscreants who even talk of bombing the parliament", the Prime Minister remarked on the floor of the house.
"We want to have the parliament's guidance to formulate foreign, defence and internal policy. I also agree to arrange an in-camera briefing for the parliamentarians and army chief will be asked to brief on law and order situation," the Prime Minister told the house.
Gilani said the top leadership of coalition partners was given a briefing by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani and the government was ready to hold debate on the law and order issue in the parliament for as many days as members want.
The Prime Minister said the government had adopted three-pronged strategy to address the law and order issue, which was also shared with the US president George Bush.
The policy, he explained would be to develop them socially and economically, to settle the issue through negotiation and ultimately use of force if anyone challenged the writ of the government.
"I have told the US president that we will hold political dialogue, we will hold dialogue with tribal elders who would lay arms. We want to isolate tribal people from militants," he maintained. He said the government would construct opportunity zones for the development of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and open markets for their products. At the same time, the Prime Minister said, the government would not tolerate those who are trying to challenge the writ of the government.
The Prime Minister said militants were even trying to attack the parliament building, as they had announced support only to those candidates during elections who will promise to carry out attacks inside the parliament.
About the displaced people from Bajaur, Yousuf Raza Gilani welcomed the proposal of Speaker Fehmida Mirza for setting up a special fund as well as a committee of the parliamentarians to assist the displaced people of the said area. Earlier, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik informed the house that the government had been left with two options to counter terrorism, either to hand over Pakistan to Taliban or fight against them.
"We are conducting targeted actions in the troubled areas to avoid any collateral damage," he said, adding around 2,48,000 people have been displaced in Bajaur due to military operation whom the government was making every possible effort to provide assistance.
He said it was the right time to take action against the militants, as the government would not allow anyone to challenge its writ. Meanwhile, the parliamentarians including members from the opposition urged the government to review its policy on US-led war on terror and demanded an in-camera session briefing on country's law and order situation. Former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the government should have taken the parliamentarians into confidence on its policy regarding war on terror.
He said the government was not protesting against the coalition forces, who are conducting aerial strikes in Bajaur and other tribal areas regularly resulting into collateral damage.
He criticised some of the statements that foreigners were hiding there. "There are no foreigners. There are no Chechens or Uzbeks. More than 400,000 people have migrated from the area and living in miserable conditions," he maintained. Sherpao urged the government to take the opposition on-board for formulating a consensus strategy to combat terrorism in the country, and hold an in-camera session for the parliamentarians if there is an issue of sensitivity.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the coalition partners in a joint meeting had decided to find out a political solution of the issue besides agreeing to review the policies of the previous government.
PML-N members Sheikh Aftab and Ayaz Amir urged the government to change the Musharraf regime policy on war on terror. "There is not much difference between the D.I Khan and Islamabad. The war is knocking at our gate and we should leave this mantra that it (war on terror) is our own war," Amir said.
PML-Q member Riaz Hussain Pirzada complained that the government was not taking opposition into confidence to tackle the issue. He assured the opposition's full support to the government if it were taken on-board. The house also offered Fateha for those who were killed in suicide bombings in D.I Khan and POF.