ISLAMABAD: A key Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) member of the National Assembly on Friday forcefully defended the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in the wake of allegations regarding its involvement in recent terrorist incidentsinPakistan.

`Is it sufficient to merely say that Afghanistan`s soil is being used (for terrorism in Pakistan)? We are ourselves responsible for it. It is wrong to blame others for our own misdeeds,` declared TUI-F MNA Salahuddin from Balochistan`s Qilla Saifullah while referring to statements by government ministers regarding the involvement of Afghanistan in acts of terrorism in Pakistan.

Taking part in a debate on the Jan 30 suicide bombing in a Peshawar mosque which left over 100 people dead, Mr Salahuddin asked critics of the Afghan Taliban government to do an analysis as to how many incidents of suicide bombing and acts of terror were taking place in Pakistan before the Afghan Taliban formed government in Afghanistan.

`If we have complaints [with Afghanistan], we should hold negotiations,` he suggested while calling Afghan Taliban `our brothers` he added.

The JUI-F lawmalcer questionedas to why acts of terrorism were taking place only in Pakistan and not in other neighbouring countries of Afghanistan.

Mr Salahuddin regretted that Pakistan had kept on changing its stance about the Afghan Taliban at the behest of world powers.

`If the Taliban were terrorists, why they were engaged in Qatar and handed over the government in Afghanistan?` Mr Salahuddin questioned? He urged the Taliban`s critics to do some comparative study of the crime rate in Afghanistan before and after the Taliban takeover, stating: `There has been peace in Afghanistan since the Taliban established their government` The JUI-F lawmaker then as usual started lashing out at the previous PTI government and held it responsible for the present political and economic mess in the country.Naz Baloch of the PPP criticised PTI Chairman Imran Khan and called for his accountability for allegedly bringing the country at the verge of economic collapse.

She particularly took the former premier to task for alleging that PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari was planning to assassinate him with the help of some terror outfits.

The National Assembly, which met for less than an hour, also passed the Pakistan Maritime Zones Bill, 2021, and made some minor and technical changes in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

Besides this, the government also introduced two bills: National Skills UniversityIslamabad(Amendment) Bill, 2023; and Quaid-i-Azam Foundation Bill, 2023.

Later, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf adjourned the proceedings of the house till Monday evening.