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Friday March 29, 2024

Govt trying to brush Mina tragedy under the carpet: Aitzaz

Senators walk out of house in protest; say govt manipulating media; missing women pilgrims’ families in great distress; Nadra services not utilised to identify victims

By our correspondents
October 09, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Leader of Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan Thursday alleged in the Senate that the government was trying to brush Mina tragedy under the carpet and for this reason the media was asked to go soft on the unfortunate incident.
Opposition senators stormed out of the House against the government’s inability to bring back the bodies of martyred Pakistani pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.
However, BNP-Mengal Senator Dr. Jehanzaib Jamaldeni, who also sits on the opposition benches, did not participate in the walkout.
Immediately after the opposition’s exit, lack of quorum hit the House. The quorum problem was pointed out by PPP Senator Sehar Kamran and at the time of count 19 senators were present.
Bells were rung for five minutes. The House was not in order, forcing the Senate Chairman, Mian Raza Rabbani, to suspend the proceedings for 30 minutes. When the House resumed, he had to adjourn the proceedings till Friday morning.
Raising the Mina tragedy, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan alleged that the government wanted to forget the incident by pushing it under the carpet, accusing it of being apathetic and corrupt.
“Some 300 Pakistani pilgrims are either dead or missing,” he claimed.
Aitzaz lamented that no one knew as to the whereabouts of their loved ones after the passage of so many days, as the victims had been buried there.
He said the relatives of martyred pilgrims wanted issuance of visas so that they could try to find their loved ones or visit their graves if possible.
Families, he noted, would remain in pain throughout their life if they failed to recover, particularly their daughters, mothers and wives.
He said the government was doing nothing to bring bodies back home and had tried to hush up the media through a notification issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.
He believed if the images of victims and their fingerprints had been put on the website, the Nadra could have identified them within no time but this was not done.
Aitzaz wondered would the Government of Pakistan or Saudi Arabia give an assurance that the graves of those buried there would not be bulldozed.
Deputy Chairman Senate and JUI-F Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said the Government of Saudi Arabia had been making excellent Haj arrangements and there had been no such incident in the past.
He said it was either a mistake on the part of pilgrims or the administration but apparently pilgrims came face to face, leading to stampede.
He said the Saudi government had ordered probe into the tragedy and its outcome must be awaited. Haideri insisted no one should try to exploit this situation.
Responding to his observations, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid said the Government of Saudi Arabia had issued the pictures of dead pilgrims. He claimed the number of missing Pakistanis in Mina tragedy was continuously coming down.
About the burial of dead Pakistanis, the minister said the leader of opposition must be aware of the fact that before proceeding for Haj, every Pakistan had to sign on an agreement that in case of his death during pilgrimage, he would be buried there.
The minister held out assurance that even then if the heirs of any dead wanted to bring his body to Pakistan, the government would raise this matter with the Saudi authorities at diplomatic level.
He said usually, almost every pilgrim wanted to be buried in Saudi Arabia in case of death. The minister said against past traditions, the federal minister for religious affairs was still in Saudi Arabia and remain there till all the issues were resolved.
He claimed the government was fully discharging its obligations. The minister, earlier, said Pakistani pilgrims had been praising the government for making excellent arrangements for them, whereas they had raised their hands, cursing the PPP rulers for poor Haj arrangements by the then Pakistani authorities.
“Agar pagri ochaal jatta hoga to phir pagri sambhal jatta bhi hoga,” the minister cautioned, indirectly referring to the allegations being leveled against the PML-N leadership by Aitzaz, implying that the government side would also not sit silent and respond in a befitting manner.
The minister said the process of finding missing Pakistanis was still continuing. He clarified that Pemra had politely requested the channels to show extreme care in use of words and airing events, which might undermine Pak-Saudi relations.
Senator Mir Kabir of National Party, who had also performed Haj, alleged that before the Saudi minister sought permission from the countries, they had already buried the Mina mishap victims.
Senators Amir Kabir and Usman Kakar of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awai Party, speaking on an adjournment motion moved by Senator Shahi Syed of the Awami National Party, alleged that instead of checking theft of electricity and recovering amounts from defaulters, the Ministry of Water and Power was massively overcharging consumers.
Mir Kabir said a clerk had received Rs14,000 power bill, whereas a consumer, living in Defence, had paid Rs2000 bill. Kakar alleged Wapda employees were involved in power theft and speeding meters had been installed to mint maximum from consumers.
Senator Abdul Qayyum of PML-N said no elected government could afford to cause discomfort to masses and noted after the Nepra report had alleged the performance of minister of water and power was very poor, the matter should be taken notice of.
Before Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif could complete his statement on power-related matters in Balochistan, Aitzaz rose to lead the opposition’s walkout from the Senate on the government’s inability to bring bodies of Pakistanis home.