ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan has said that law and order situation in the country has significantly improved as result of the government’s efforts.

Winding up discussion on the recent terrorist incidents in Quetta and Mardan in the Senate on Wednesday, the minister condemned the cruel and barbaric incidents of terrorism at Civil Hospital Quetta and District Courts Mardan, which resulted into loss of precious human lives.

Giving a comparison of pre and post 2013 law and order situation in the country, the minister said terrorist attacks have considerably decreased.

He said the government is alive to the situation and reiterated that the 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) was started with consensus of the All Political Parties.

The Interior Minister said that the war against terrorism is a war against the hidden enemies. He said our enemies are trying to get benefit from this war but they will be defeated at all costs.

He said the success in the war against terrorism has been achieved after the great sacrifices of the security forces of the country.

He said 500 security forces personnel have been martyred in the Zarb-e-Azb operation while 6,000 during the last 15 years.

Lauding the role of the security agencies, Chaudhry Nisar said that security agencies of the country are performing their duties at their best.

He said the agencies had issued alerts before all the major terrorist incidents that took place in the country.

He said due to more than 20,000 intelligence-based operations the graph of terrorism has been lowered considerably. 

He said the successes against terrorism are due to the joint efforts of all the stakeholders including the security forces, the parliament and the civil security forces.

The Interior Minister said the National Database has been made more secure and transparent.

He said the government has cancelled 31,000 passports that were made in the past. He said 300,000 fake CINCs have also been blocked.

He said all the political parties are united and have unanimous views about the war against terrorism. He said this war is going to achieve its logical end due to the unity of the nation.

The Interior Minister said enough intelligence information have been gathered about the incidents of Mardan, Quetta and Warsak.

He said on the basis of intelligence information the investigation is underway and we will soon reach the culprits. 

He said some persons have also been arrested and after the detailed investigation the conclusion will be drawn. 

He said the investigating have also revealed that some foreigners were also involved in some of the incidents.

He expressed the hope that the elements involved in these incidents will be arrested very soon.

As many 16 Senators took part in the discussion yesterday and strongly condemned the cruel and barbaric incidents of terrorism at Civil Hospital Quetta and District Courts Mardan.

They were of the view that the banned organizations should not be allowed to resurface again.

They said that identification of facilitators of the terrorists is imperative for the eradication of terrorism from the country. They called for strict punishment to the facilitators.

Taking part in the discussion on the recent terror attacks in Quetta, Mardan and Peshawar, Senator Farhatullah Babar questioned the policy of skirting the real issues and shifting the focus to the nexus between corruption and militancy.

Others who took part in the discussion were Rubina Irfan, Daud Achakzai, Mir Kabir, Ashok Kumar, Abdul Qayyum, Azam Khan Musakhel, Gianchand, Jehanzeb Jamaldini, Naseema Ehsan, Javed Abbasi, Hafiz Hamdullah, Gul Bashra, Nehal Hashmi, John Kenneth Williams and Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah. 

Earlier during the question hour, the Senate was informed that the government is taking concrete steps to revive PIA as a modern commercial airline according to the international standards.

Responding to a question, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad informed the House that currently 177 billion rupees loan is outstanding against PIA.  

He said that fleet modernization, human resources rationalization and operational restructuring are also being ensured for uplift of the national flag carrier.