Aitzaz Ahsan says govt has failed to ban non-state actors

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan said the government has failed to ban non-state actors.

Addressing a joint session of the parliament here today, Ahsan said non-state actors were being allowed to hold rallies and speeches in cities across the country and failure to act against them could lead to Pakistan being blamed for future acts of terrorism in neighbouring countries. 

"The government has completely failed on taking action against non-state actors according to National Action Plan." According to Aitzaz Ahsan failure to act against non-state actors was the reason Pakistan is isolated. 

The PPP leader also said there would not be total war between Pakistan and India as both were nuclear-armed nations. 

Aitzaz Ahsan demanded to know why Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not mention RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav’s name in his speech at the UN General Assembly last month. "I'm still waiting for the prime minister to bring up names of Indian spies in his addresses," the senator said.

He said the government needed to take important measures to unite the nation. “If we don’t remove the misunderstandings from among us how would we be able to fight the Kashmir case?” he said.

Aitzaz Ahsan said there is a general perception among many that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would mostly benefit Punjab.

“People are beginning to think CPEC is in fact ‘China-Punjab’ Economic Corridor and this is not acceptable to us,” he said.

The senator said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would only be able to look Narendra Modi in the eye once he clears himself from the Panama Leaks issue.

He said both Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed states and hence a war will not happen. Some bullets will continue to be fired across the border but a war is not likely, he said.

Aitzaz Ahsan said Modi has been labeled as an ‘extremist’ but a lot of people with his kind of mentality also exist in Pakistan.

Meanwhile ANP leader Ilyas Bilour said Pakistan does not have any foreign policy. “Who is our friend? Tell us,” he demanded.