The government on Saturday said that the on-going Wana operation was aimed at sending clear signals to terrorists operating in other parts of the country.
"The government has launched the action to fight out increasing wave of terrorism," Interior Minister Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat told the National Assembly and the Senate.
He made it clear that the local people of the tribal areas need not to worry, as the government wanted to flush out the foreign terrorists hiding in the area.
The opposition walked out of the National Assembly and the Senate, protesting against the said operation.
The minister slammed the opposition for 'misleading the innocent people about the operation against the foreign terrorists', saying particularly MMA lawmakers today stood exposed for their backing to the terrorists instead of the armed forces, fighting them out.
MMA's Fata MNA Maulana Mairajuddin, the minister claimed, told him that foreign elements in Wana were impeding implementation of the agreement, both sides signed last month.
"On one hand, they admit the foreigners were in the lead in resisting a peaceful solution to the crisis while on the other, they support them," he wondered.
Faisal said the government had made it quite clear that the operation had nothing to do with the local population, as they are loyal to the country. "Our target is the foreign terrorists, who indulge in terror acts across the country," he asserted.
The minister said these elements were openly targeting the law-enforcement agencies' personnel and in this connection, he made mention of attack on FC men. "They ambushed the FC men and mutilated their bodies," he contended.
Referring to MMA legislators, Faisal asked," How can they claim to be protagonists of Islam when they support such elements, who kill in cold blood and desecrate dead bodies?"
Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejazul Haq clarified that a similar operation was launched during PML government in 1990s, when some 30-40 men, belonging to JUI (F) were kidnapped and taken to tribal areas by the foreigners.
He rejected the MMA allegation that the army had committed a blunder by adopting a military path instead of finding solution through peaceful means.
Earlier, combined opposition staged a token walkout against the Wana operation. PPPP was hesitant to join the rest, as some of its members declined to walkout. However, when Makhdoom Amin Fahim pressed them, they had no choice but to follow the suit.
Some of MMA lawmakers chanted slogans such as 'stop Wana operation'.
After the Recitation from the Holy Quran, some of the opposition members mounted scathing attack on the government for use of force against own people.
PPPP Leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim alleged that there was no rule of law, no government, as the terrorists strike at will in Karachi and other parts of the country.
"In broad daylight, innocent people are being killed, armed forces are attacked and even the corps commander is not spared. The army commander, meant to protect the country and people is being attacked," he said.
Describing the situation as fluid, Amin Fahim said the country was passing through a very crucial phase, as far as its security was concerned.
Fata lawmaker Maulana Mairaj conceded that there might be some 20 terrorists in the area but use of helicopters and jet planes was totally unwarranted. He condemned what he called barbaric bombardment in Wana.
He demanded immediate end to the operation, saying negotiated settlement to the tangle be found. Maulana Mairaj cautioned against further expansion to the operation.
PML (N) acting President Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said, "Who is responsible for spilling blood in streets and under whose permission has the operation been started?"
He strongly opposed the operation, arguing that the people were totally upset over the developments in the tribal belt.
MMA's Liaquat Baloch asked under what rules and regulations, the security forces had been allowed to fire on their own citizens.
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