The National Assembly on Monday expressed grief and sorrow over the tragic Safoora Chowrangi incident in which 45 members of the Ismaili community were killed and Naltar helicopter crash where two foreign envoys lost their lives among others. The House unanimously passed two separate resolutions to express deep grief and sorrow over the two tragic incidents.
In the first resolution, the house expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the 45 people, including 17 women, who were killed and injured inside the bus, belonging to the Ismaili community that left Al-Azhar Gardens residential compound, Karachi and intercepted/targeted by around six terrorists on motorcycles, near the Safoora Chowrangi, on 13th May, 2015.
The strongest possible condemnation was voiced of this heinous, brutal and an inhumane terrorist attack on a peaceful Ismaili community, which is not an attack against the community, but against all Pakistanis. The House expressed solidarity with the Ismaili community and expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for the early recovery of the injured.
The House also demanded that the federal and Sindh governments should take all necessary measures to bring the perpetrators to justice and provide the best possible medical facilities to the injured persons. "The House expresses grief and shares the pain of families of those who lost their precious lives and injured persons, with the wish that they may be blessed with the courage and fortitude to bear this irreparable loss", it stated and expressed the resolve that the national action plan should be implemented in its letter and in sprit.
In the second resolution, the House also expressed its heartfelt condolences to the families of the ambassadors of the Philippines Domingo D Lucenario Jr and Norway Leif Larsen who along with the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian Ambassadors lost their precious lives, when the MI-17 helicopter crashed, moments before landing, in Naltar Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, on 8th May, 2015.
It voiced the deepest grief over the martyrdom of Major Altamash, Major Faisal and Naib Subedar Zakir who, being crew of the helicopter also lost their precious lives in the incident. The House wished for the early and complete recovery of all the injured persons including the Polish, Dutch, Romanian and Lebanese Ambassadors; the High Commissioners of Malaysia and Indonesia and the wife of the Polish Ambassador. It also expressed grief and shared the pain of families of those who lost their precious lives and injured persons, with the wish that they may be blessed with the courage and fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
The House also expressed complete solidarity and shared deep sympathies with people and governments of the said countries. Earlier, the leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah and MQM's Dr Farooq Sattar, while speaking separately on points of order, strongly condemned the Karachi incident, and called for an early arrest of the culprits to give them exemplary punishment.