Assembly session: Legislators trade barbs over rescued girls

PML-N MNA walks out in protest against continued detention of Bajaur girls in Sindh

ISLAMABAD:

The surprise recovery of 26 girls from a house in Karachi and the countrywide surge in terrorism cases continued to dominate the debate in the lower house of parliament on Thursday as lawmakers met for the second day of the session.

During the session, Shahabuddin Khan, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker who hails from Bajaur Agency, staged a walkout in protest against the Sindh government’s reluctance to hand over the girls who were held captive at a house in Karachi.

The PML-N lawmaker heaped scorn at the Sindh government as it blamed the authorities, including Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, for their unwillingness to resolve the case.

Shahabuddin’s outburst drew a quick response from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Nabil Gabol, who said that the girls were linked to suicide bombers.

“We have apprehensions that these girls were being groomed as suicide bombers,” said Gabol while justifying the decision to hand the girls over to their parents with adequate proof.

He also clarified that the governor had nothing to do with the matter as the issue was being handled by the chief minister.



“We are not to blame if their parents are not coming forward,” the MQM lawmaker added.

Referring to the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) during the heated debate, Shahabuddin had referred the FCR and said being a tribal elder he could do the verifications and in case their parents have committed some mistakes, they should not be punished for that. “Under which FIR the girls have been taken into custody?” he questioned.

During the proceedings, Muhammad Jamaluddin from JUI-F questioned the authorities as to why IDPs were not being allowed to return. “The government and the army are saying that 80 per cent area has been cleared after Operation Zarb-e-Azb, then why are our people not being allowed to go back and restart their lives,” he questioned.

Another member from the tribal belt, Shah Jee Gul Afridi, said that Fata falls under the president, as the house was having a debate over presidential address to parliament, and asked the government to take care of the people.

Afridi also issued a warning, saying “if you left Fata just the way it has been done with Afghanistan, then things would go out of control.”

He also asked the government to acknowledge the sacrifices of IDPs who had left their homes for the sake of peace in the country.

MQM-PPP war of words

The proceedings also witnessed a war of words between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) which prompted Parvez Malik, who was conducting proceedings in the absence of speaker and deputy speaker, to expunge some words not fit for parliamentary decorum.

It was Syed Asif Hasnain from the MQM who, while speaking on presidential address, accused the PPP of corruption and that “a corrupt government had once again come to power.”

In response, Abdul Sattar Bachani said the MQM was known for switching sides and even the ruling PML-N was fed up with this approach. He made some harsh comments, some of which were later expunged from the proceedings.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2014.