Sharif vows anti-terror fight 'at all costs' after Quetta bombing

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the National Assembly on Wednesday that his government will pursue the fight against terrorism with more vigour, two days after a suicide bomber killed at least 74 people in the southwestern city of Quetta.

Islamic State and a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on August 8 that also prompted high level security meetings to explore ways to counter the threat by terrorists who are now killing civilians.

Sarfaraz Bugti, Home Minister of Balochistan, of which Quetta is the capital, claimed the involvement of a "foreign hand" to destabilize the natural resources-rich province.

The Prime Minister, delivering statement on the Quetta terrorist attack in the lower house of Parliament, called for national unity to defeat terrorists "who are targeting innocent people in sheer frustration".

"I want to announce in the parliament that the nation is united in the war against terrorism and this war will be taken to its logical conclusion at all costs."

Opposition leader, Syed Khurshid Shah, and other lawmakers who spoke on the occasion said the Quetta carnage has shocked the whole nation and underlined the need for effective implementation of the anti-terror National Action Plan.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali informed parliament about the progress in investigation into the attack.

"We have found some clues regarding the terrorist bombing that have been shared with the Prime Minister," he said.

"I am confident to reach the perpetrators soon," the minister said, adding that the terrorists conducted the blast in a very scientific manner.

A suicide bomber detonated his vest when lawyers gathered outside the city's main hospital to receive the dead body of their president who was killed by a militant group just hours earlier. Police say over 20 lawyers were among those killed in the attack.

Sharif told the lawmakers that terrorist incidents cannot deter the resolve of the nation in the fight against terrorism.

"We will move forward with full strength and completely eliminate terrorism from the country. We will have to defeat this ideology because they are the enemy of the country," he said.

--IANS

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