ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Tuesday that the Interior Ministry had issued six security alerts to the provincial government of Sindh since November out of which two were for Karachi, DawnNews reported.
Addressing the National Assembly session, Nisar said soon after the attack began on Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, action had been initiated against terrorists at 11 pm Sunday night and lasted for the next few hours.
He said security personnel had aggressively combated the terrorists, resultantly killing seven of them. However, previously it had been reported that 10 terrorists were killed during the gun fight.
The interior minister also expressed astonishment that the attackers were able to carry heavy rocket launchers and weaponry into the airport premises.
Nisar said the gate from which the attack was launched had been declared a security risk in March and added that assailants wanted to target planes.
The minister said post-mortems and biometrics were being conducted of the dead terrorists.
He also clarified that the attack was launched on the old terminal and not the new one which is also the busiest of the two.
Meanwhile, lawmakers paid tributes to the 11 Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel who lost their lives in the attack.
GST hike without passing budget is contempt of Parliament: Khursheed Shah
Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah said the government's move to increase taxes without passing of the federal budget was contempt of the Parliament, DawnNews reported.
The federal budget for 2014-2015, which was announced last week, was deliberated upon during the NA session today.
He questioned as to what authorised the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to impose taxes when the budget was still being debated in the Parliament.
Shah said the country’s debt had risen to a whopping Rs300bn in the past ten months.
The opposition leader said the price of electricity had also risen to Rs6 per unit, adding that the increase would lead to more power thefts.
Separately, he said that a large portion of the budget was spent on security agencies and he hoped that these would be ready to protect Pakistan.
He also discussed the Musharraf issue and said that the ex-Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government had treated the Army and former general differently but due to the policies of the present government the military was now backing Musharraf.
The opposition leader said the government's inability to take immediate decisions had increased clashes between the country's institutions.