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Attack on BBC office

Nawaz flays

govt for poor

security

environment

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the opposition and president Pakistan Muslim League (N) Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has strongly condemned the attack on BBC office in Islamabad as well as assault on two BBC correspondents in Pakistan.

"This is the second incident in six months where foreign nationals have been made the target of violence", he said in a statement issued here Friday.

He said while Pakistani citizens were living under fear in a regime where the law of jungle reigns supreme, now even foreign diplomats and foreign correspondents and their families were no longer safe.

He said it was amazing that the attack on BBC office took place in the very heart of Islamabad under a government which never tires of making tall claims to have improved the law and order situation in the country.

He questioned that if the government could not protect the security and sanctity of the office and correspondents of such prestigious news organisations as the BBC even in the federal capital, how could it claim to preserve law and order in the rest of the country.

Sharif alleged that the government had been working overtime to transform Pakistan into a police state through such measures as enhancing the budget of the Intelligence Bureau.

He said that incidents such as the attack on the BBC office and correspondents had further lowered Pakistan's image internationally.

He said that Benazir Bhutto was presiding over a government which is seeing the most lawless period in the history of Pakistan with unrest and strife all over.-PPI