Summary The resolution strongly condemned terrorism and sectarianism in all its forms and manifestations.
ISLAMABAD The National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed two resolutions strongly condemning the attack on old terminal of Karachi airport and the terrorist attack on pilgrims in Taftan, which resulted in the loss of precious lives and injuries to many others.
The resolutions were moved by Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid.
In the first resolution the house expressed deepest sympathies with the bereaved families of those who martyred in Karachi incident. It paid rich tributes to Pakistan Army, Police, Rangers and ASF for successfully countering the attack and eliminating the terrorists in a short time.
The resolution said that the house recognizes the sacrifices rendered by the law enforcement agencies in the discharge of their duties. The resolution said that it steadfastly standby the law enforcing agencies in defence of the country.
The second resolution described the attack on pilgrims in Taftan as dastardly and inhuman terrorist act. It noted that the Prime Minister has already given the directions to the law enforcing agencies to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. The resolution called upon the provincial government and law enforcement agencies to vigorously search the terrorists and ensure security of the Zaireen.
Briefing the National Assembly on the attack that took place in Karachi, Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan has said the terrorists who attacked the terminal of old Karachi airport appear to be foreigners. He said the CCTV excerpts showed that the heavily armed ten terrorists had long height and fair in colour. Their features are different from us. The bodies of terrorists are with the security forces and currently their biometrics and postmortems are being carried out.
The Interior Minister clarified that the attack was not carried out on Karachi airport but a terminal of the old airport which is about two kilometers away from the main airport. The objective of the terrorists was to target the aircraft and capture a particular place to make the people hostage.
The Minister said that the terrorists were equipped with sophisticated weapons including Kalashnikov, grenades and rocket launchers. Expressing grief over the loss of precious lives in the shootout, the Minister expressed satisfaction that the terrorists failed to achieve their objectives to target the national assets.
He also clarified that no tank but normal bullet proof vehicles were used in the operation against terrorists.
Rejecting criticism of the opposition regarding law and order situation, Ch. Nisar said that six intelligence alerts have been issued so far since November last. Two alerts were Karachi specific and were shared with the Sindh government and the law enforcing agencies.
Earlier, continuing debate on the budget, leader of the opposition Syed Khursheed Shah said today the federation is stronger than ever before under the umbrella of democracy. He said the federation will continue to gain strength as more powers are delegated to the federating units.
He asked the government to withdraw the additional taxes imposed in the next year s budget keeping in view the welfare of the masses. He said the government has violated fiscal responsibility act by taking loans over sixty percent of the GDP.
Khursheed Shah said the government has failed to achieve its targets set for the financial year 2013-14. According to IMF, the growth rate remained 3.3 percent as against the government s target of 4.4 percent while the agriculture growth rate also witnessed a sharp decline.
The prices of food items have risen by two hundred times against the government s target to reduce the inflation rate to eight percent. He said the government has also fallen short of achieving the revenue collection target despite revising the target downward twice.
Criticizing the privatization policy of the government, the leader of the opposition said the privatization of profitable institutions will be contrary to the interests of the country and destroy the economy. He said the opposition will strongly oppose the privatization of these institutions as it will render a large number of people jobless.
Speaking on the budget, Daniyal Aziz said prudent economic policies of the present government have started paying dividends. He said the government is committed to adhere to fiscal responsibility act and rid the country of the burden of debt. He said the privatization of institutions will help revive them.
