ISLAMABAD: The government acted dumb in the National Assembly on Friday as opposition criticised alleged security lapses in dealing with a high drama on Thursday in which a gunman paralysed the centre of Islamabad for over five hours.

The spectacle, seen live on television screens across the country, ended late on Thursday night with a heroic tackling of gunman Mohammad Sikandar, who carried two automatic weapons, by a local Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader from Rawalpindi, Zamurrad Khan, with bare hands, and then the capture of a wounded gunman amid a hail of gunfire.

As Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan remained away from the house for the day, nobody from the treasury benches would come forward to respond to charges of perceived security inadequacies in the federal capital from opposition lawmakers, some of whom voiced fears that much worse could happen while security forces were found so much wanting in equipment and efficiency in handling an apparently little trained gunman before Zamurrad Khan stepped in.

While Zamurrad Khan, a lawyer and a former head of the government-run Baitul Maal charity, emerged overnight as a virtual hero for his daring bid to end the drama when police seemed helpless, the interior minister told a news conference in Lahore later on Friday that he had ordered police not to fire at the gunman before his wife and children.

In the National Assembly, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who allowed house members to speak on the issue on points of order apparently hesitantly, tried to save the situation for the treasury benches by asking the chief whip of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, to convey to the government to come up with a response to opposition charges when the house meets on Monday after a two-day weekend recess.

And then Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi too came to the government’s rescue when he cut the debate short by adjourning the house somewhat earlier than expected when the opposition appeared preparing for a walkout after some senior cabinet ministers quietly slipped out of the chamber.

“What happened yesterday was a major failure not only of security but of decision-making as well,” Naveed Qamar, a senior PPP parliamentarian said. “When it can happen at such a central place, no place can be safe. If Zamurrad Khan had not shown his bravery, nobody knows what damage would have been done.”

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, vice-chairman of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), described Thursday’s happening as “regrettable, shameful and dangerous too” as, he said, a man who did not seem to be well-trained paralysed the whole of Islamabad police and administration despite a recent high alert in the capital.

Only a day after the interior minister earned some appreciation from opposition benches for agreeing to the formation of a house committee to probe complaints of vote-rigging in the May 11 elections, there were cries of “shame, shame” when his absence from the house was noted by Mr Qureshi, who said the minister “should have informed the house today” about the incident.

Calling it a security lapse, Mr Qureshi said the incident exposed how ill-equipped the Islamabad police were as well as a “casual behaviour” of authorities that could have resulted in “a very serious tragedy”.

“It appears we all are at the mercy of God while the government seems helpless to provide security to the people.” Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League said the incident should be a lesson for security authorities about what well-trained persons could do when an apparently a single untrained person could paralyse Islamabad whose environs, he said, were infested with extremists.

Nabil Ahmed Gabol, a member of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who remained at the scene of the incident for quite some time on Thursday, praised Zamurrad Khan’s “bravery” but made a strange claim —that he said he was disclosing — that Mr Sikandar had actually come to surrender when the PPP leader arrived there, though the gun had opened fire when he was tackled.

As if to counter praise heaped on Zamurrad Khan by both the print and private electronic media — though the state-run Pakistan Television did not even mention his name in the main Thursday night bulletin — a PML-N lawmaker from Punjab province, Arifa Khalid, said police should have been allowed to handle the incident as they had wanted.

She said she too went to the scene on Thursday evening and asked the gunman’s wife to give her two children to her care, but she did not try to go beyond police cordon.

The PML-N chief whip said the government was ready to respond and come with a “detailed reply” before the deputy speaker abruptly adjourned the house until 5pm on Monday amid opposition shouts of “no, no”.