ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Friday dem­a­nded provision of foolproof security to former provincial home minister and Balo­ch­is­tan Awami Party (BAP) Sen­a­tor Sarfaraz Ahmad Bugti, who recently escaped unhurt after a roadside bomb was detonated close to his convoy in Balochistan’s Rojhanpur area.

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior, which met with Senator Mohsin Aziz in the chair, asked the special secretary of the Ministry of Interior to deploy both Fron­tier Corps and police officials for the security of Senator Bugti within three days.

The committee expressed resentment over the absence of the inspectors general of Balochistan and Khyber Pa­­khtunkhwa as they had been summoned to brief the panel on the recent incidents of attack on the convoy of Sena­tor Bugti and on the house of Senator Haji Hidayatullah Khan in Din Bihar Colony, Peshawar.

“If this is the attitude towards parliamentarians, let alone the security and safety of the general public,” Senator Moula Bux Chandio of the PPP remarked.

The committee said the abs­ence of the IGs of Baloch­istan, KP and Islamabad is unacceptable. “The absence of the IGs has been observed 16 times now,” pointed out Senator Shahadat Awan. The interior secretary and the KP chief secretary were also absent.

Senator Bugti said that so far no organisation has clai­med responsibility for the att­ack. “Forty-nine target killings have been reported in the area so far; we need a se­­cure environment,” he noted.

The committee chairman deferred the matter with a directive for the special interior secretary to provide security to Senators Bugti and Hidayatullah. The committee sought progress report on the attack on the convoy of Senator Bugti and of all such incidents, including target killings in the area, and act­ions taken against the attackers. The committee also poin­ted out that further absence of the officials will entail disciplinary action against them.

The progress report submitted by the senior superintendent of police in Sarfaraz Bugti case stated that apparently a roadside timer or remote-controlled IED was used in the incident. However, on receipt of report from PFSA, the exact details of the explosive used in the incident shall be available.

No weapon was recovered from the site of occurrence. The report also said that no casualty was reported. One gunmen of Senator Bugti sustained injuries. The officials ensured that all efforts are being made to arrest the people involved in the attack.

On the matter of bomb attack on the house of Senator Hidayatullah Khan, the Peshawar SSP apprised the committee that no lead in the case has been found so far. “There is no Peshawar safe city project which can aid such cases,” the SSP added.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2022