Opposition parties on Friday staged protest in front of speaker’s dais during the National Assembly (NA) session.
While holding placards, the opposition parties chanted slogans and called for issue of production orders of MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, who are in the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).
PML-N leader Khurram Dastagir raised questions over lack of progress in the probe into the abduction and murder of Superintendent of Police Tahir Dawar, whose body had been recovered from Afghanistan in November 2018 and handed over to Pakistani authorities. “It has been nine months since, but the government is yet to provide any information about his killers,” he regretted. “On whose hands should we seek his blood?” he asked.
Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Shehryar Afridi ? who had been part of the delegation receiving SP Dawar’s body ? told the House that Afghan intelligence had wanted to hand over SP Dawar’s body to Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Manzoor Pashteen. He said SP Dawar had been targeting in three separate attacks, and that his brother had also been killed. “At the time we were receiving his body [at the border], the Pakistani flag was also disrespected,” he claimed, adding, “I cannot share in this House the things that were said against Pakistan at that time.”
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan chimed in with a fiery speech, saying that lawmakers who are the reason behind the discord in the House have no right to remain in the NA. He said Pakistan has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees for the last four decades. “Afghanistan is a brotherly country but they owe answer to us as to why a son of Pakistan – SP Tahir Dawar – was martyred on their land,” he asserted.
Khan regretted the language used by certain elements in North Waziristan against Pakistan and its institutions. He said those involved in the incident have no right to sit in the House and that their membership should be cancelled.
Following his remarks, the opposition and government lawmakers surrounded the speaker’s dais. The session was adjourned indefinitely as the ruckus broke out between the government and opposition members.
Earlier, Parliamentary Secretary for Overseas Pakistani Javeria Zafar told the House that test has been conducted for appointment of community welfare attaches at Pakistan embassies. She said out of 411 applicants, only 11 have cleared the test. She said another test will be carried out to fill the remaining six seats of community welfare attaches. The House has now been prorogued.
