This is really despicable.
Opposition MPs in the Pakistani parliament have ignored a proposal to pass a resolution condemning recent suicide attacks in the country.
The proposal was made by Pakistan’s interior minister during the parliamentary session on Friday.
Pakistan has been the target of several suicide attacks which have claimed dozens of lives in recent weeks.
The attacks follow a siege by security forces on the Red Mosque in Islamabad which ended in a bloody shoot-out.
Government criticised
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao asked for the adoption of the resolution after making an address on the current security situation in the country.
But the call went unheeded by members of parliament, including representatives of the right-wing alliance of Islamic religious parties, the MMA.
They chose instead to criticise the government’s military operation against militants in North West Frontier Province and in North and South Waziristan.
Opposition MPs said more attention should be given to Waziristan
“The government is only exacerbating disputes over the border with Afghanistan,” said Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the leader of the opposition in parliament.
“Pakistan must change its policies in the so called war on terror before peace can be restored”.
Liaquat Baloch, deputy head of the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party, also weighed in, calling for an end to US intervention in Afghanistan.
“The situation will not change, and resistance will continue till the Americans leave,” he said.
However the parliament did agree to debate several key issues affecting the county called by the minister for parliamentary affairs.
Dr Sher Afghan Niazi said that subjects up for discussion should include “mud-slinging” by US presidential candidates on Pakistan, the country’s foreign policy, the India-US nuclear agreement, Pakistan’s status as a “front line state in the war on terror” and new conditions on US aid to the country.
Dr Niazi said that he expected the debate to clear up numerous “misunderstandings”. It will begin on Monday.
A proposal is also under consideration to have a joint session of both the senate and the national assembly to discuss these issues.