The Sindh provincial assembly, in its first session on Friday after a break of 18 days, saw a heated exchange between members of the ruling Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal over the harbouring of Al Qaeda operatives by religious parties. During a debate on the law and order in the province, Mustafa Kamal, a minister, charged the religious parties with protecting Al Qaeda terrorists in nazimsâ houses. âThese people evade any serious action against them,â he said. âIf ever a single such person (terrorist) was found in any MQM memberâs house, all of us would have been sitting here with handcuffs on, Mr Speaker!â He referred to a suicide bombing on a bus outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi in May last year in which 14 people, 11 of them French naval engineers, were killed, and questioned who was behind it. The government should revamp the education structure, he said, to discourage the growing wave of terrorism in Pakistani society.
| Sounds like a good idea to me... |
MMAâs Nasrullah Shaji, from the Jamaat-e-Islami, was enraged by the ministerâs speech, and said: âI am proud to be a jihadiâ.
| At least we know which side he's on... |
|