Emergency in KP Was Indispensable to Save Young Lives; Several PTI Individuals Have Links with Banned TTP: Mohsin Naqvi’s Senate Address
Islamabad (Daily Qudrat Quetta) — Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, addressing the Senate session, said that the Leader of the Opposition gave a very emotional speech; God belongs to both sides, and God Almighty should not be brought into a fight between two governments. A committee should be formed to review which article of the Constitution was violated, and if any action was taken outside the Constitution, it should be identified. It should not be said that we did anything outside the Constitution; facts should be brought forward and constitutional violations clearly identified. Talks were held in Parliament, and on the first day of discussions, only the issue of terrorism was discussed. Asad Qaiser said that we stand with you for Pakistan, to which I told him that there is a difference between your words and the stance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
Mohsin Naqvi said that the option of imposing emergency and Governor’s Rule was also available to us on November 26, but before imposing emergency, I kept making contacts by phone late into the night. There was a disagreement over the paramilitary force, and I said that whatever you want, we can include that as well. Funerals of our police and army personnel were held, and we would reach there from here to attend the funerals, but no representative of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would come there. We did not link terrorism to any other matter; in the talks, we accepted their six proposals, and the draft of those proposals was also sent to Murad Saeed. The action we took was an extremely difficult decision, but it was considered indispensable to save young lives. Terrorists are coming into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
The Interior Minister further said that it is not correct to say that the federation’s decision is wrong and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s decision is right. We had also said earlier that some individuals of PTI have direct contacts with the Taliban, and when asked, complete evidence will be provided. We had clearly said that many of your people are linked with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. He raised the question whether Murad Saeed did not sabotage all matters, and why was the Chief Minister taking decisions from them? Mohsin Naqvi said that he has full hope from God Almighty that they will succeed and eliminate terrorism. We will take the youth along with us; our only agenda is the elimination of terrorism.
Referring to the events of November 25, Mohsin Naqvi said that when the attack was being carried out, we offered them space, but they said that they should be allowed to talk on the phone, and they would postpone the sit-in after talking on the phone. When the phone conversation took place, half of the party’s people said that they did not accept that decision. Then it was said that the matter would be accepted only after a video message was recorded. We called Barrister Gohar and said that he should go and record the video message. We kept waiting for two hours, after which they said they would record the message, but then said that the message would be recorded on Barrister Gohar’s mobile phone, and later also said that the message would be recorded from behind bars. According to the Interior Minister, when they went behind bars, they said that the message would not be recorded today.
The Interior Minister said that despite past experiences, we held talks inside the Parliament House and also contacted them ourselves for dialogue. Instead of holding us responsible, those people who pushed the party and government to this situation should be held accountable. A few people harmed everyone, while we went to every possible extent from our side for negotiations. He stressed that matters should be discussed on the basis of facts, and other issues should not be mixed with the core issue of terrorism.
