Defence Minister Khawaja Asif slams PTI over opposition to Operation Azm-e-Istehkam

There was pandemonium in the National Assembly (NA) on Sunday as members belonging to SIC-PTI, a major opposition party in the House, created an uproar after the deputy speaker asked Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to speak, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.  

Raising slogans against the ‘Operation Azme Istehkam’, SIC-PTI MNAs said it aloud that they did not support any military operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Soon the legislators belonging to the JUI-F also joined in the protest, which prompted the defence minister to say that the government would not take any decision which was controversial.

However, he insisted that he would speak come what may, and that nobody could stop him. “There could be no blackmailing in the House,” Asif said, adding, “At the same time, I will answer all the questions put to me by the opposition.”

He said that minorities had the equal right to live in Pakistan.

He, however, lamented that no minority was safe in the country. “We will discuss the decisions taken at the apex committee meeting at a federal cabinet meeting,” the minister announced.  

Taunting that the SIC-PTI MNAs were those who were tainted with the May 9 violence, he said that stain was indelible and would remain associated with the party for good.

Asif was of the view that the opposition party’s MNAs were neither well-wishers of the country nor of the constitution and nor the parliament. “What they are really interested in is to politicize issues.”

The minister said the government intended to elicit the opinions of parliamentarians on the Operation Azme Istehkam.

He accused the opposition of siding with terrorists by holding protest demonstrations. “They are still to distance themselves from the May 9 violence-related narrative,” Asif said, adding, “What SIC-PTI is interested in is to do politics of violence and hate.”

Later talking to the media after the NA session was over, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the party wanted that the parliament should have been taken on board prior to taking the decision on launching a military operation. “Previously too, the military leadership has given an in-camera briefing to the parliamentarians,” he recalled.

What the PTI demanded was, the party chairman went on to say, that no operation should be launched anywhere in the country without taking the parliament into confidence.  

Speaking on the occasion, another PTI leader and former NA speaker Asad Qaiser said he wanted to make it clear to everybody that the party did not support any military operation. “Will somebody please tell me which operation has produced the desired results?” he questioned.

Speaking on the occasion, Leader of the Opposition in the NA Omar Ayub Khan complained that he was not allowed to speak by the speaker. “If we go by Form-45, PTI has 180 seats in the assembly,” he reiterated.

Rebutting the claim made by the defence minister that the PTI was an anti-state party, Omar said it was the government, and not the PTI, which was hostile towards the state.

Opposing the Operation Azme-Istehkam, he said that PTI founder Imran Khan had said it repeatedly that Pakistan could not afford to become a party to any other country’s war.

He called the national budget ‘financial terrorism’. “So much so that the PML-N’s allies do not endorse contents of the budget.

Reporter: Usman Khan