QUETTA, June 18: Members of the Balochistan Assembly on Monday criticised federal and provincial intelligence agencies for their failure to identify elements behind acts of terrorism in the province.

Talking on points of order in the house, the lawmakers condemned a bomb attack earlier in the day on the IT university bus and said it was the responsibility of the government, police and intelligence agencies to protect people.

Speaker Aslam Bhootani and panel’s chairman Jaffar Khan Mandokhel chaired the session.

Jan Ali Changezi, Zahoor Buledi, Abdur Rehman Jamali, Nasreen Khetran, Zamarak Khan Piralizai, Abdur Rehman Mengal, Ainullah Shams, Asad Baloch, Ali Madad Jattak and Jaffar Khan Mandokhel said they were elected representatives of people and accountable to voters for their role in the assembly.

They said people asked them about the government’s performance in controlling terrorism in the city.

They said that no Muslim, Baloch or Pakhtun could be behind inhuman acts of killing innocent people, asking that if outside forces were involved then what the intelligence agencies were doing to foil their design.

The members said that billions of rupees were allocated in the budget for police and intelligence agencies to protect the lives of people but they miserable failed to fulfil their responsibility.

“Our criticism does not mean that we do not trust our law-enforcement agencies,” they said but emphasised that it was the responsibility of intelligence agencies to frustrate the evil design of domestic and external elements behind the terrorist acts.

They said people were not safe whether they are students, teachers, businessmen, ulema or common men and the time had come that “we should sit and make a policy to control the situation”. Otherwise, they cautioned, lawlessness would push the province towards civil war and anarchy would prevail.

Winding up the debate on the budget, Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd assured the lawmakers that the government would make its best efforts to incorporate proposals and suggestions made by them in the general discussion.

He said development funds were equally distributed in all districts and propaganda by political groups was baseless that Pakhtun areas had been ignored.

The members described the budget as balanced and called upon the government that funds for development projects should be released in time in order to complete the ongoing schemes according to schedule.

The house approved a motion tabled by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdur Rehman Jamali to form a financial committee headed by Speaker Aslam Bhootani.

The house offered fateha for PPP leader Fauzia Wahab who passed away in Karachi on Sunday.