After a deadly attack on the Peshawar mosque that claimed the lives of at least 101 people, mostly police officials, Pakistan's National Assembly was seen clearly divided over the option of launching a new military operation against terrorists, reported Dawn.
The National Assembly on Wednesday witnessed some fiery speeches as lawmakers stressed national unity to eliminate terrorism, but while sticking to their party positions offered divergent views.
A majority of the lawmakers opposed launching another operation to eliminate terrorism and questioned the efficacy of previous operations, reported Dawn.
Notably, Pakistan Army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb, an offensive targeting various militant groups in North Waziristan, an area in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, in 2014 on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Minister for Religious Affairs Moulvi Abdul Shakoor of the JUI-F forcefully opposed the idea of launching a new military operation against terrorists as it would cause more destruction in the tribal areas, reported Dawn.
He said ministers in the previous PTI government in KP had been giving extortion money to the militants.
Moreover, the lawmakers criticized the previous Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government led by Imran Khan at the center and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for its policy to appease the militants, reported Dawn.
The hard-hitting speech came from an independent MNA from Waziristan Mohsin Dawar who suggested setting up a truth and reconciliation commission to fix responsibility on the individuals and institutions.
Referring to the protest demonstration staged by the police personnel outside the Peshawar Press Club, he said, "If your force starts protests, then one can easily assess (the gravity of the) situation."
He regretted that even the "police do not have trust in the state".
While expressing his concern over the trend of blaming only the Afghans for terrorism, the MNA said the Taliban were portrayed as heroes by the past rulers, who pushed the country into the Afghan war when US dollars were raining on them, reported Dawn.
"Now who is supporting them (TTP) when we have our own favourite government there [in Afghanistan]," he questioned, adding what had become clear was that there could be no peace till the Taliban government was there.
The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Pakistani Taliban have reined havoc after a peace deal between the TTP and the Pakistan government was called off by the proscribed group.
The TTP was formed in the year 2007 by banding together several armed groups who protested against Pakistan's cooperation with the US in its war on terrorism. The TTP supported the Afghan Taliban's fight against the US and The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Referring to the in-house briefings given to the parliament by the military leadership during the PTI government, Dawar said, "Everyone knows under whose protection they (Taliban) have returned and from where they are getting the support."
He called for rectifying the Afghan policy before it was too late, warning that otherwise "there will be an action replay of Afghanistan in Pakistan," reported Dawn.
( With inputs from ANI )
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