Government response under criticism

The opposition on Friday lashed out at the government for its failure to take appropriate action immediately against a gun-toting man who kept the federal capital hostage for over five hours on Thursday. The Opposition severely criticised Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for neither giving any statement nor attending the session of the National Assembly to apprise the House about the incident.
The opposition members said the armed man was not a well-trained person, but still it took Islamabad police more than five hours to overpower him. They said it was a security lapse which badly exposed the security apparatus in the capital.
Urging the Interior Minister to give a briefing to the House on the incident‚ the opposition members said police should be equipped with all modern weapons to promptly deal with such situations.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Deputy Parliamentary Leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said it was a "shameful" incident which exposed the ineptness of Islamabad Police. Islamabad was rendered totally paralysed while the concerned departments kept on planning to control the situation, he said. The PTI leader said: "Islamabad Police has been found to be ill-equipped; and it lacks training. The area of the incident was not cordoned off and there was no well planned mechanism."
Criticising government's response to the stand-off, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Syed Naveed Qamar said: "I hoped the Interior Minister would come to the National Assembly to inform the House about the incident, but he did not come to parliament to brief the MPs about it."
Sardar Nabeel Ahmed Gabool of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) made fun of government by saying that lone gunman paralysed the federal capital for more than five hours. "The Interior Minister should have come to the House and replied our questions," he said. He said it is totally breach of capital's security and failure of federal government and law and enforcement agencies.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said he had failed to understand how an untrained gunman could paralyse the entire capital. He said Islamabad had been "swarmed" by terrorists. He asked: "Did Islamabad Police have no rubber bullets or any other thing to make the gunman unconscious?"
Arifa Khalid Pervez of PML-N said the situation was handled with utmost care to avoid any loss of life. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad assured the House that the government would give a detailed response on the matter when the House will meet on Monday at 4.00 pm.