| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Senators say extremists defying govt authority |
| 2008-05-07 |
| Nationalist Pashtun senators from Balochistan accused religious extremist and foreign elements on Tuesday of defying government authority, especially in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). During a debate on the law and order situation in the country, moved by Leader of the Opposition Senator Kamil Ali Agha, the senators expressed their concern over the “fast deteriorating” law and order in the country. They took particular note of the incidents of kidnapping for ransom. “The state administration has completely collapsed. Government writ is not seen anywhere, especially in the Pashtun-dominated areas of NWFP. Outlaws are kidnapping, looting and killing innocent people at will. And our Corps Commanders and inspector generals are bargaining for the release of the abducted rather than taking action against criminal elements,” said Pushtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP)’s Senator Abdul Rahim Mandokhail in his opening remarks. Expressing disappointment over the law-enforcement agencies’ inability to trace abducted Pakistani Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin almost two months after his kidnapping, he also questioned whether the agencies were sponsoring such elements themselves. Strength: Mandokhail said that the religious extremists had become so strong in the Tribal Areas that they were now implementing their own version of Islam by force. He alleged that the most people of the region, including parliamentarians, were aware of the identities of the kidnappers. Senator Azam Swati of the JUI-F, however, said that Pakistan had made two major mistakes in its foreign policy by first joining the Afghan war in the 1980s, and then joining the war on terror on the behest of the US. “The first policy resulted in Klashnikov culture and the second in suicide attacks in Pakistan. He urged an immediate review of the country’s policy on war on terror. |
| Posted by:Fred |