Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday called for unity in the fight against terrorism, saying that it was time for Pakistan to set its \u201chouse in order\u201d.
\nHe expressed the views while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, a day after a suicide blast at a mosque in Peshawar claimed 100 lives and injured dozens.
\nAt the outset of his speech, the minister said that a war was fought against terrorism from 2010- 2017. \u201cThis war started from Swat during the PPP\u2019s tenure and it was concluded during the PML-N\u2019s previous tenure, and peace was established in the country from Karachi to Swat.
\n\u201cBut if you remember, a year-and-a-half or two years ago [\u2026] we were given a briefing two, three times in this same hall in which it was clearly stated that talks could be carried out against these people and they can be brought toward peace.\u201d
\nAsif said varying opinions had risen on the matter but despite that no \u201cconclusive decision\u201d was taken.
\n\u201cBut during this time, thousands of people who were left unemployed after the Afghan war settled in Pakistan.\u201d He said the first proof of this surfaced when the people of Swat protested against the people who were resettled.
\nHe noted that the people of Wana had also protested and expressed similar emotions. \u201cI am mentioning theses incidents because the tragedy that occurred yesterday [\u2026] the terrorist was standing in the frontline during Zuhr prayers where he detonated himself.\u201d
\nAsif said the prime minister and the army chief visited Peshawar yesterday where they were given a briefing on the attack. \u201cBut this is a tragedy where we require the same resolve and unity which was expressed in 2011-2012.
\n\u201cI will not talk for long but I will say briefly that at the start, we sowed the seeds for terrorism.\u201d
\nHe said that when Russia invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan offered its services to the United States \u201con rent\u201d. \u201cGeneral Zia was the ruler at the time [\u2026] the agreement made with the US went on for eight to nine years after which the US went back to Washington celebrating the fact that Russia was defeated.\u201d
\nHe said that Pakistan was left to deal with the aftermath for the next 10 years. \u201cOnce those ten years passed, 9\/11 happened. A threat was received from there [\u2026] and we became involved in another war.\u201d
\nThe minister said that Pakistan\u2019s involvement in these two wars had spilled over into \u201cour homes, our bazaars, our schools and public places\u201d.
\nTalking about the 2009 Parade Lane mosque attack, he said those kids were targeted whose fathers were commanding the operation in Swat at the time.
\n\u201cIt was a faulty decision when these people were brought and resettled now, one or two years ago. This was a continuation of a policy that proved to be disastrous. These people have not seen peace. If we want them to come and live in a peaceful society then this is our misunderstanding.\u201d
\nHe said that worshippers weren\u2019t martyred during prayers even in India or Israel but it happened in Pakistan.
\nAsif questioned who would be held accountable for the blood that was spilled yesterday in Peshawar. \u201cThis is a moment where we need introspection, we need to see where we stand. Why were these people brought? And this [attack] is not being condemned the way it should be.\u201d
\nThe minister said that the entire nation needed to be united against terrorism, only then could it be fought against. \u201cThis is not the war of a particular sect or segment, this is the Pakistani nation\u2019s war.\u201d
\nHe said that Pakistan\u2019s history bore witness to the fact that there was differentiation in this war, adding that everything had fallen prey to \u201cconfusion\u201d.
\n\u201cTerrorism doesn\u2019t differentiate between any religion or sect. Terrorism is used in the name of religion to take precious lives.\u201d
\nThe minister said that this shouldn\u2019t remain a debate and called on the House to guide the government in how terrorism could be tackled.
\nHe further said that terrorism had seeped into our way of life and the way we talked, pointing towards how the nation\u2019s temperament had changed over the past four to five years.
\nHe said that if bases were being used in Afghanistan, it was a liability for Pakistan \u201cdirectly or indirectly\u201d. \u201cWe wish good upon Afghanistan. It is our neighboring country. If they have peace that means we will also have peace. But the look at what we have done in the past.\u201d
\nHe said that 450,000 Afghanis had come to Pakistan in the past 1.5 years on valid documents and had not gone back. \u201cI am giving you an official figures. They crossed the border and came into Pakistan on valid documents and they have not gone back.
\n\u201cWho is a terrorist and who is not, I can\u2019t say anything about that.\u201d The minister said that Afghan refugees were present in small cities across the country.
\nHe said that Pakistan was helping Afghanistan in terms of trade but the latter had stated in the Doha agreement that its would not be used for terrorism against any other country.
\n\u201cBut because these people fought with them in the wars against US and its allies, they are repaying their debts and are turning a blind eye to whatever they are doing in Pakistan from across the border.\u201d
\nAsif said that Pakistan had laid the course for this destruction. \u201cWe should have good relations with the US, of course [\u2026] but we shouldn\u2019t fight wars on their orders or for their international influence.
\n\u201cWe must put our house in order first. Our house is not in order.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday called for unity in the fight against terrorism, saying that it was time for Pakistan to set its \u201chouse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4564,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-updates"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}