Govt ready for talks on counterterrorism with opposition, Rana Sana tells Senate

ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led ruling alliance in the Centre on Tuesday called on the opposition to rise above party lines to end the menace of terrorism in the country, saying that the government was ready to build consensus on counterterrorism.
Speaking in the Senate, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Ran Sanaullah Khan said all political parties would have to come on one page to address terrorism and stand by armed forces in this fight.
‘Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is willing to invite all parties to find a way forward (on counterterrorism) or how operations can be supported by the entire nation,” he said. The offer was available if all parties could agree to sit together to discuss the issue, he said.
He urged all political parties to put other demands aside and “stand united” in tackling terrorism. He noted that all segments of society were becoming victims of terrorism and referred to the unity shown by political parties after the terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, leading to the start of Operation Zarb-e-Azb with wider consensus.
Blaming the opposition for the ongoing deadlock in talks, central PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said they were not willing to meet with the premier, demanding a venue of their own choice for this purpose.
“The opposition are not even ready to meet (with the treasury) in the National Assembly speaker’s chambers,” he said. I had extended an invitation to the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raja Nasir Abbas for a meeting but the same was declined, he said.
The adviser was referring to the opposition leader in the NA Mehmood Khan Achakzai who had refused to meet with premier Shehbaz at “PM House, Prime Minister’s Office or the speaker’s chambers”, demanding a neutral venue for such a meeting.
His remarks came after the federal government on October 11 imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that made the provincial government dysfunctional. The action was taken after talks between the government and the opposition, aimed at addressing terrorism and calling off the protest long march, broke down at a final stage. Rana Sanaullah said the opposition leader was appointed to the position with the signature of the speaker NA, regretting the former was not ready to visit the latter’s chambers. “If you don’t accept the speaker, why are you getting privileges of the office of the opposition leader,” he questioned.
He accused that the KP government had refused to extend cooperation on counterterrorism. Dismissing allegations, he said the Balochistan government was cooperating with the state over the issue. He said dysfunctional KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was brought to only one meeting of the Provincial Apex Committee on Counterterrorism, with much difficulty, in 11 months.
Sanaullah turned his attention to the rise in terrorism in the country, expressing sorrow at the martyrdom of an army officer a day earlier. He alleged the PTI for making a “false” narrative against the security establishment and its chief, noting that the ban on meetings of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan was a result of this. “When will you make such a narrative while sitting in jail, then ban on meetings becomes indispensable under the prison rules,” he said and added, “PTI itself has become a victim of its own social media brigade.”
Speaking over the issue, PML-N Senator Afnan Ullah Khan accused the PTI of promoting a “specific thinking” leading to the imposition of the emergency and governor’s rule in KP. “All legal grounds were met before taking this step,” he said. He refuted allegations that such action was taken by the Centre to occupy natural resources of the province. Senator Nasir Mehmood Butt said counterterrorism was not a priority for the PTI.
PTI Senator Falak Naz said the federal government stole the mandate of the KP on October 11. She also dismissed allegations that the PTI refused to cooperate on counterterrorism and said, “We want peace. We have sacrificed our lives in terrorism.”
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry responded to a call attention notice of Senator Jan Muhammad Buledi regarding the blocking of computerised national identity cards (CNICs) of residents of Rakhshan and Makran Divisions of Balochistan.
Chaudhry said both the divisions had a population of 2.9 million while only 8,829 CNICs of the residents of the region had been blocked by the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra). He said the authority had blocked CNICs of Afghan nationals throughout Balochistan and that the total number of such cards was 138,166. “The blocking of CNICs had no link with politics of the region,” he said, adding that a card was blocked only when the holder’s Pakistani nationality was under question.
The minister of state informed the House that Nadra had started criminal proceedings against its 100 officials on allegations of illegally inserting foreigners into the family trees of Pakistani nationals. He said the action was taken after these foreigners travelled to Middle East countries on Pakistan passports and the government received complaints from Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Senator Buledi said the population of both the divisions had their roots in Oman as the area around Gwadar Port belonged to the neighbourng country in the past. He said the government had blocked cards of locals on the suspicion of having dual nationalities while no agreement of dual nationality existed between Oman and Pakistan.