Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) on Thursday staged walkout from Senate against the killing of nine policemen from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in Lahore. The nine policemen along with prisons staff were sleeping in Lahore on Thursday, when terrorists stormed the hostel, where they were residing. They were undergoing training in the provincial capital of Punjab.
Speaking on a point of order, Senator Zahid Khan of ANP straightaway declared the gory incident of terrorism a conspiracy against Pashtoons. He called upon chief minister KP Amir Haider Khan Hoti to recall all police officers in protest, as Punjab administration failed to provide adequate security.
"This is complete negligence on the part of provincial government as the officers were not provided with sufficient security, which speaks volumes of its incompetence," he added.
The Senator blamed Inspector General Prison Punjab for the incident and demanded his immediate suspension. "We will not attend the proceeding of Senate session, unless the perpetrators are brought to book," he declared.
Senator Ghulam Ali of JUI-F warned Punjab government to wake up and turn down any attempt to promote provincialism. The way Punjab government treated the relatives of the deceased and did not even bother to provide air-conditioned ambulances to shift the dead bodies to their native towns, was condemnable, he regretted.
"The vehicle provided to lift the dead bodies of the officers were without ACs and faulty, which is a clear message to us [KP] that you just don't care what happened to people of our province, who were undergoing training in your province and their security was the prime responsibility of Punjab government," he added.
He further said that Punjab miserably failed to control terrorism. Later both the parties [ANP, JUI-F] staged a walkout from the house, warning they would not attend the current session of the house if stern action against those responsible for the incident was not taken.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) termed it as very unfortunate and held provincial government responsible for the killing of police officers. He said that they were kept in such a densely populated area where there was no security and they became easy target. He also criticised Inspector General Police (IGP) Punjab and CCPO Lahore, saying they were unable to comment on the incident, which reflects how cautious they were about the security of the personnel from another federating unit.
Mian Raza Rabbani of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said that it was tough time for the federation, as some international powers are hell-bent to destabilise the country. He called upon all the political forces to join hands in a bid to foil the conspiracies being hatched against Pakistan.
"Our national security is at stake, and threat can only be averted if political leadership irrespective of their party affiliations stands up hand-in-hand, showing solidarity and oneness as this is the only way out to defeat the elements who want to weaken the country," he maintained.
Senator Ishaq Dar of PML-N regretted ANP's stance for linking the killing of nine police officers with the provincialism. He said his party had the same feelings which Zahid Khan and his party had over the killing of innocent soldiers at the hands of terrorists. "Punjab never thought of provincialism [and] to me Sindh, KP and Balochistan are no different than Punjab because first of all I'm a Pakistani and can't even think of discrimination," he maintained.
He termed the incident as intelligence failure both at federal and provincial level. Dar assured the enraged senators from KP that all out efforts would be made to bring the perpetrators to book. He also proposed a joint investigation team comprising top police officers from both the provinces to make it clear that the province equally shares the grief and sorrows of their brethren in testing times whether KP or Balochistan.
Senator Pervez Rashid, who is also spokesman of Punjab government, negated the ANP's illogical approach for holding Punjab responsible for the incident, saying that nobody talked of terrorists, who are roaming scot-free throughput the country.
The PML-N leader said that he did want to embarrass the ANP by telling them in which language the terrorist were communicating while opening fire on the police officers. He said that the investigation into the incident was yet to be initiated and linking it with provincialism was pathetic.
Senator Muhammad Khan Shirani termed the incident as cold war, which he suggested both civilian and military leadership including the judiciary need to pay serious attention to.
"Don't indulge in useless discussions as we, both military and civilian leadership, are responsible for the bloodshed in the country. Stop getting dollars from the US on the pretext of CSF, Kerry Lugar Bill etc...mend your ways, before it is too late," he warned.
Senator Zafar Ali Shah of PML-N called upon ANP to follow in the footsteps of its late leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan, who did not talk of provincialism or revenge when hundreds of Pashtoon were killed in a public meeting in Rawalpindi. Senators Kalsoom Perveen of BNP-Awami, Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi, Colonel Tahir Hussain Mashhadi(retd) also spoke on the occasion. The house was adjourned to meet again on Friday at 10am.