• Warns of action against ‘miscreants’ creating hurdles in way of tribal areas development
• Govt ally in NA demands parliamentary probe

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet which met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair on Tuesday condemned the May 26 attack on an army check post in North Waziristan and expressed the government’s resolve to ensure protection of the rights, life and property of the tribal people as a ruling coalition ally in the National Assembly called for constituting a parliamentary commission to probe the incident.

Briefing reporters about the decisions of the federal cabinet, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan alleged that some “miscreants” were creating hurdles in the way of development of the tribal areas and playing into the hands of international forces.

“This is the government’s resolve that those who disgrace Pakistan’s flag and put the national security and the country’s ideology at stake will get no concessions,” she said, terming the Waziristan incident “regrettable”.

“The cabinet has condemned the incident in which the writ of the state was challenged and the way the army check post was attacked resulting in martyrdom of one FC man and death of some tribal people who had carried out the attack and expressed solidarity with the armed forces and those injured,” she said.

“Some people have tried to make these innocent tribal people a fuel for their politics. The cabinet has expressed its reservations over this,” she added.

The first official reaction from the federal government came on the day when in the National Assembly the chief of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who is a partner with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government at the Centre, joined his voice with the opposition’s demand for constituting a parliamentary commission to probe the violent incident at the Kharqamar check post in which three people were killed and 10 others were injured on Sunday.

Taking part in a debate on the 21st anniversary of the country’s nuclear tests, Mr Mengal said that besides the North Waziristan incident, the proposed parliamentary commission should also hold investigations into recent terror attacks in Balochistan. The BNP chief said the Waziristan incident showed that the sense of deprivation was now spreading to other parts of the country as well, adding that the tribal people had always been “used and exploited”.

“Those tribal people who had helped us in Kashmir in 1948 are now being dubbed traitors and being targeted by bullets,” he regretted.

Mr Mengal presented a list of those civilians and politicians who had been declared traitors in the past, including Fatima Jinnah, PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Bacha Khan, Abdul Wali Khan, Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, Attaullah Mengal, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and MQM founder Altaf Hussain.

In his usual hard-hitting speech, the Baloch nationalist leader said if these people were traitors then 80 per cent population of this country should also be declared traitors as they had voted for them.

Referring to the Yaum-i-Takbeer celebrations to mark the anniversary of the country’s nuclear tests, he claimed that he was the chief minister of Balochistan, but he was not taken into confidence when the tests were conducted in Chagai on May 28, 1998. He said they had to sacrifice their government when they protested over it.

Mr Mengal said that everyone was taking pride over the nuclear tests, but the people of Chaghi were being totally neglected. “Has any president, prime minister or even a minister ever visited Chaghi since 1998,” he asked while highlighting the sufferings of the people of the area.

He said the natives of Chaghi did not have basic facilities of health and drinking water and many of them were suffering from cancer, adding that the people of Chaghi and Gwadar in Balochistan and the tribal areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had always been “used and thrown” like tissue paper. “The country cannot be run like this. The sense of deprivation cannot be ended with the use of sticks and bullets,” he concluded.

Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions Shehryar Afridi responded to Mr Mengal’s speech and declared that the PTI government would never compromise with those who would make an attempt to disintegrate the country.

In his emotional speech, the minister regretted the trend of criticising the armed forces of the country for what he called their own failure. “If you unconstitutionally make false allegations against the institution, then you will be penalised.”

Mr Afridi alleged that two MNAs from the tribal areas Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were playing into the hands of some international powers and had links in Afghanistan. He also launched his tirade against the PPP and PML-N for their statements over the Waziristan incident and vowed that the government would not spare those who attacked institutions only to save their corruption.

At the outset of the sitting, PML-N’s Khawaja Asif said former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who gave the nuclear programme to the country, and Nawaz Sharif, who completed this programme, had been made examples. He said Mr Bhutto was hanged and Mr Sharif was languishing in Kot Lakhpat jail.

PPP’s parliamentary leader Syed Naveed Qamar, while speaking on a point of order, raised the matter of arrest of MNA Ali Wazir, saying that according to rules, the speaker should have been intimated of the latter’s detention by the arresting authorities and the speaker was bound to intimate the house, but it had not happened.

Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, who was presiding over the session, directed Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan to look into the matter.

The assembly also witnessed introduction of four private member’s bills before the deputy speaker adjourned the proceedings till Friday morning.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2019