Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday called upon the government to immediately summon the National Assembly session to discuss the recent clashes between two religious groups in Rawalpindi, which left over 10 people dead and score others injured.
Speaking at a press conference PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi accused Punjab government including the district administration of mishandling the situation in providing foolproof security for the mourners on Ashura. "The government must convene NA session or else the PTI along with other opposition political parties will be forced to requisite the assembly session", he added.
Qureshi said that the government is not serious about Rawalpindi mayhem, adding the scope of the recently constituted judicial commission should be extended to other parts of the Punjab to reach the bottom of the conflict. He said that Multan, the city of saints is also tense after Pindi carnage and an innocent child was killed in broad daylight. He expressed fear that the incident may give birth to sectarian clashes across the country, which needs to be handled with utmost care.
He said that the government must take Rawalpindi incident seriously and hold a debate on the issue in the National Assembly to find out a permanent solution to such problems besides reaching the root-cause of Rawalpindi carnage. Qureshi said that incident could have international repercussions, adding if precautionary measures were not taken, it may spoil the image of the country at international level.
The PTI leader also demanded the government to compensate the traders who were deprived of billions of rupees after an angry mob torched and ransacked the shops following the clashes. There are reports that it was a conspiracy, he added, if so it must dealt with iron hand as its repercussions could be disastrous if timely action is not taken to nab the culprits and nib the evil in the bud.
"It's not only an attack at a mosque rather it is an attack on Pakistan and its sovereignty...all the political parties must stand united to foil nefarious motives of the enemy", he cautioned. He said that it would be premature to blame anybody, adding after the investigation the party would be in a position to make a realistic statement that what were the motives behind all the tragedy.
About trial of Musharraf under Article 6, he said PTI had already declared October 12, 1999 and November 3, 2007 unconstitutional acts, for which there is a need to apply Article 6 on those who were responsible. "We had been pressing for this but were stunned on the delay...the timing set for the trial of General Musharraf is a point to ponder as the government has announced to try Musharraf when there is a chaos in Rawalpindi", he added.
He said that PTI march to Waziristan against US drone attacks has rejuvenated the international community, adding following his party long march against drones, different humanitarian organisations have stood up against drones in US. To a question about Imran Khan's inability to visit the injured persons in hospital, he said that he could not visit the patients due to curfew in the city. He also flayed the local administration for not inviting the two PTI legislators in the meeting to take stock of the situation in Pindi and Multan. He said that on November 23 sit-in against drone attacks, no member of PTI-led provincial government would participate, saying it is purely being arranged by the party and provincial government has nothing to do with it.