Liberal political parties visibly perturbed over terrorist attacks on their election rallies on Thursday warned that regressive forces will put the country's existence in jeopardy if 'guarantors' of Taliban succeeded in making their way to power corridors.
Speaking on a motion over law and order situation, the Senators said that the terrorists had created such an environment conducive for the parties endorsing their policies to take part in general elections. The motion was moved by Colonel (Retd) Syed Tahir Hussian Mashahdi of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
He said that terrorists had drawn a clear line which party should take part in elections. "Militants are dictating which party should contest elections and which should not... secular [parties] have been thrown out of elections [and] their leadership is being attacked to pave the way for hardliners," he insisted. According to him, liberal parties such as MQM‚ PPP and ANP were not being provided a level playing field to participate in elections. He said that they were being victimised because of their "liberal‚ moderate‚ democratic and tolerant" outlook. Extremists, he said, had polarised political parties into "leftist and rightist" and "are supporting rightist parties because they want to implement their agenda", he maintained.
Senator Haji Adeel of Awami National Party (ANP) said that there was an impression that only Punjab was bracing for elections while other provinces were not. "No secular political party political can organise election rallies due to terrorist attacks." Adeel said that some parties had "soft corner" for terrorists and they "are silent over terrorist activities hitting election campaigns" of left-oriented parties, adding the caretaker government had failed to provide protection to political parties to run their election campaigns. "They've forgiven their apologists but the secular (parties) will never accept defeat and we'll fully take part in elections," he added.
Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that terrorist activities had been going on for the past many years but the previous coalition government of PPP‚ MQM and ANP failed to address the domestic law and order situation. He said the prevailing law and order situation was the result of the previous government's polices, adding the PML-N candidates were also facing terrorist threats but they were running their election campaigns.
Senator Farhatullah Babar of PPP said that an ideological line had been drawn regarding participation in the elections by political parties. If issue was not resolved immediately, he added, its drastic effects will be visible shortly. He said the leaders and workers of PPP‚ MQM and ANP‚ security forces and civilians had sacrificed a lot in the fight against terrorism and their sacrifices would not be allowed to go waste. All political parties‚ regardless of their ideologies‚ he said, should be united to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions.
Shahi Syed of ANP said that the former coalition government had provided a ground for holding free‚ fair and transparent elections. He said it was the success of that government that the Chief Election Commissioner and the caretaker government had been appointed with consensus.
Mushahidullah Khan of PML-N said that PPP‚ MQM and ANP were reaping what they had sown during their collective tenure, adding that it was the duty of previous government to maintain law and order but they had miserably failed. Maula Bakhsh Chandio of PPP said that terrorist activities were a conspiracy against democracy and parties that were facing terrorist threats had complete right to express their reservations.
On a point of order‚ Deputy Chairman Sabir Ali Baloch said that derogatory language was being used by PML-N leaders against the President that "is highly objectionable". He said President "is the symbol of the federation‚ therefore‚ PML-N leaders must be stopped from using such language". PML-N leader Mushahidullah Khan said that President's office was also being used against PML-N leaders. He said President's office "must not be used in campaign against any political leader".
Afrasiab Khattak said that ANP was being victimised because it defeated terrorists and restored peace in Swat. He said despite threats, ANP‚ PPP and MQM "are fully committed to participate in elections". He said: "We will have to work together to defeat the terrorism and extremism." Abdul Haseeb Khan said that elections "must be held on time, but the turnout will be low because of the law and order situation". He said that all political parties should be provided a conducive environment to give a clear message to the world that elections were being held in a free and transparent manner.
Zahid Khan said that ANP had sacrificed a lot for the sake of the country's survival, but stood firm against terrorists. Winding up the debate, caretaker interior minister Malik Muhammad Habib Khan said that a comprehensive security plan had been devised to tackle the situation during the elections. He said the interior ministry was providing full support to provincial governments to maintain law and order situation, particularly during elections. He said the ministry was also sharing intelligence reports with all provinces, adding he had visited Balochistan and Sindh and expressed the confidence that the environment would be conducive during elections. The house was prorogued sine die.