The PML-N has refuted the allegations levelled by the Sindh Assembly through a resolution on Wednesday that the Punjab government had links with terrorists and was patronising terrorist cells.

Reacting to Sindh Assembly’s terse resolution, the PML-N described the move as the means to fan hatred and create fissures in the inter-provincial relations which, it said, could disserve the federation. “There is no substance whatsoever in the accusations which the Sindh Assembly made,” asserted Ahsan Iqbal, party’s deputy secretary general.

The Sindh Assembly eschewed the fact that all the arms licences to terrorist outfits were provided by Balochistan and the Sindh government itself, but finger was being pointed at the Punjab, Iqbal pointed out. He said the Sindh government had been trying to politicise the issue of terrorism to gain a vantage position by shifting the onus onto the Punjab and maligning the PML-N that had been ruling it.

The PPP government was doing the same what Musharraf had earlier done by branding every other (person) a terrorist except himself. He said terrorism was a serious issue, but the PPP government was trying to get political mileage out of it. By accusing the Punjab of having links with terrorist cells, Iqbal said, the PPP was only fomenting hatred and dividing the provinces. This attitude would not help curb terrorist activities but would help terrorists instead, he added.

The PPP was trying to malign the Punjab government as it was scared of PML-N’s rising popularity in Sindh, Iqbal said, “It should have put its own house in order before charging the Punjab government.” He further said the PPP was ruling in Sindh and Balochistan where arms licences were provided to terrorist groups.

About Sindh Assembly’s resolution, the PML-N leader said it did not have any binding or legal effect to force the Punjab government.Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah meanwhile said the provincial government asked the interior minister a number of times to provide the evidence that it had been facilitating terrorists. “But he never came up with any proof,” he said, and alleged that the ruling party was looking to pit one province against the other and create hatred among them.

The minister said it was the Punjab government that broke the network of terrorists and ensured peace in the province which its rivals were not able digest. He said the Inter-Services Intelligence was befittingly and effectively carrying out action to stem terrorism and if there had been any proof against the Punjab government, this agency would not have spared an action against it.