ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Thursday said that the network of terrorist organizations has been smashed in the country adding that we have to join hands to fight collectively against such elements.

Talking to media persons here at the Parliament House, he said that it is not a time to indulge in blame game but is a time to create unity among our rank and file and to fight the mindset which wants to destabilize the country. “The Punjab government should not be blamed for Lahore tragedy. No one is safe from them and the terrorists attack whenever they find any opportunity,” he observed.

The minister said the government operation against the terrorists in Swat, Malakand and tribal areas remained successful and the whole network of terrorist organizations has been broken. The whole nation including security forces, media and the civil society played key role in eradicating the menace of terrorism from Swat and Malakand division, he said.

The security forces remained successful in the operation against the terrorists in Malakand division and it was the results of consensus which was built against such elements, he added. The Minister said that some splinter elements belonging to smashed terrorists groups are acting in desperation but the government would not allow them to play with lives of innocent people.

Replying to a question, Kaira said that it was not made public that how many people were arrested in connection with terrorism on the basis of intelligence. “Wherever we deem necessary, we will take action and we need no dictation from any quarter,” he added.

In response to another question, he said that democracy has been restored after long struggle and the nation would not tolerate any ultra-constitutional change in the system.

The National Assembly session was convened to discuss relief and rehabilitation of flood victims but it has been adjourned for one day owing to the death of Minister for Local Government AbdulRazzaq Thahim and now the matter would be discussed on Friday.

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KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain Thursday asserted that a public revolution has become fate of Pakistan and now nothing can stop a ?French revolution-like change in the country?.

Addressing via telephone a launching ceremony of book ?Meray Quaid? by MQM?s Deputy Convener Anis Ahmed Qaimkhani here at Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall, Azizabad, Altaf Hussain invited ?notables, armed forces, Establishment and bureaucracy? to come forward and begin lending their support to the people.

Journalists, scholars, members of national and provincial assemblies besides workers and office bearers of MQM attended the ceremony.

?In the prevailing situation of the country, which has also been hit by worst floods, the poor has nothing to eat nor anything to wear, forcing people to sell out their children,? Altaf Hussain noted.

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GENEVA: Growing resentment among Pakistan flood victims on the pace of aid delivery is hampering the relief effort, the international Red Cross warned Thursday, saying it had to halt two distributions recently due to unrest.

“What we are detecting is a very worrying trend of areas where … people are so in need, so resentful of not getting enough aid, that they turn understandably aggressive and this is bad because it doesn”t help in our efforts to reach more of them,” said Jacques de Maio, the head of operations for South Asia for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

He pointed out that in two instances in the past eight days, officials had to stop distribution of relief items “because of unrest.”

“We are worried because if this trend extends, propagates,” it could hinder the aid effort, he noted.

De Maio noted that the trend is particularly worrying because, unlike other disasters such as an earthquake, the floods are generating more and more victims as the high waters sweep into new regions.

“The thing is that due to the sheer magnitude of this and the fact that we are not in for a sprint, we”re here for a marathon, we need to make sure that (such unrest) does not become the rule rather than the exception,” he said.

De Maio also pointed out that certain elements were also not helping by agitating the crowd.

“If you organise a distribution for 30,000 and in the last 48 hours you have an additional 150,000, then you have a problem, particularly if you have people in the crowd, behind the crowd saying that ”anyway they”re useless, anyway they are politicised”,” he said.

“By doing so, the choice is the usual dilemma, are we ready to have our friends, our staff being killed and looted there? Because instead of helping 150,000 people we can only help 30,000?”

“Our angle is that we want first to help this 30,000 and see how we can extend what we do,” said de Maio.

The unprecedented floods have engulfed an area the size of England, affecting more than 18 million people, including eight million who are dependent on aid handouts to survive.

The scale of the disaster is so large that a month after the deluge, many are complaining of going without food or water for days.

The ICRC, which has already reached hundreds of thousands of flood victims, expects to reach around 1.4 million people within the next six weeks.

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Thursday said that the network of terrorist organizations has been smashed in the country adding that we have to join hands to fight collectively against such elements.

Talking to media persons here at the Parliament House, he said that it is not a time to indulge in blame game but is a time to create unity among our rank and file and to fight the mindset which wants to destabilize the country. “The Punjab government should not be blamed for Lahore tragedy. No one is safe from them and the terrorists attack whenever they find any opportunity,” he observed.

The minister said the government operation against the terrorists in Swat, Malakand and tribal areas remained successful and the whole network of terrorist organizations has been broken. The whole nation including security forces, media and the civil society played key role in eradicating the menace of terrorism from Swat and Malakand division, he said.

The security forces remained successful in the operation against the terrorists in Malakand division and it was the results of consensus which was built against such elements, he added. The Minister said that some splinter elements belonging to smashed terrorists groups are acting in desperation but the government would not allow them to play with lives of innocent people.

Replying to a question, Kaira said that it was not made public that how many people were arrested in connection with terrorism on the basis of intelligence. “Wherever we deem necessary, we will take action and we need no dictation from any quarter,” he added.

In response to another question, he said that democracy has been restored after long struggle and the nation would not tolerate any ultra-constitutional change in the system.

The National Assembly session was convened to discuss relief and rehabilitation of flood victims but it has been adjourned for one day owing to the death of Minister for Local Government AbdulRazzaq Thahim and now the matter would be discussed on Friday.

More: continued here