Former Pak lawmaker condemns Swat terror attack on school van

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 12 (ANI): Former Senate chairman, Raza Rabbani on Tuesday condemned the recent terrorist attack on a school van in Swat in which the van driver was shot dead and two schoolchildren injured on Monday morning in the Gulibagh area of Charbagh tehsil.
He questioned the state’s intent in providing security to educational institutions in the area and equated the incident with the deadly attack against Army Public School students in Peshawar, reported The News International.
Rabbani asked if the state was waiting for a repeat of the APS tragedy. “The people of Swat and the adjoining areas have been demonstrating on the streets against the armed groups on the mountain tops. The state has responded by registering cases under the Terrorist Act,” he said.
Notably, on December 16, 2014, six terrorists affiliated with the TTP attacked the Army Public School in the northwestern city of Peshawar. 147 people, including 132 children, were killed in the attack.
Rabbani called for replacing the Parliamentary Committee on National Security with a new parliamentary committee, amending the rules and appointing a senator as the committee chairman, reported The News International.
He also shamed the government for negotiating a ceasefire with the banned outfit, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) without taking the Parliament into confidence, reported The News International.
“Today through a letter of the interior ministry published in the media, Parliament comes to know that talks with the TTP have broken down and there is the threat of increased terrorist activity in the country,” he said.
He said a few days back, a senior minister was held hostage by terrorists in the Northern Areas. He believed that the newly constituted committee should be kept abreast of the situation on a daily basis, reported The News International.
He said the committee should consult the civil and military stakeholders and make recommendations to deal with the situation.
“They said the recommendations should be placed before a joint sitting of Parliament,” he said. He said the need of the hour was to nip the bug in the bud with the support of the people. (ANI)