ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif Monday said the nation anxiously wanted to know the full facts of the Sahiwal tragedy and reasons for the repeated lies told after the incident.
Speaking in the National Assembly here, he said very tragic incident occurred in Sahiwal and innocent persons of a family were brutally shot to death.
Every Pakistani was saddened by the killings of the family which was coming from Lahore, their vehicle was stopped and before the eyes of small children aged five and seven, their parents and sister were murdered in indiscriminate firing.
After the cold blooded murders, he said the Punjab government issued several statements and repeatedly gave a different colour to the incident.
First it was said that the murdered persons were terrorists, then it was stated that only the driver was a terrorist and the vehicle had blackened windows.
The videos that later emerged showed that the police vehicle struck the car and the whole world saw the barbarity against the innocent people, he narrated.
He said it was claimed that the driver was a terrorist however, it became know later that brother of the murdered person was an employee of the Dolphin Police Force, adding he could tell from personal experience that agencies do background check on policemen to ascertain whether he had a criminal record or a case was registered against him.
He said the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) officials were in plainclothes and their approach was non-serious at the site of the incident.
The innocent boy of the victim family exposed the situation and told that his father asked the police to take money from him and spare him and his family.
He lamented that children would never get their parents back.
He reminded that in the past Imran Khan did politics in the Model Town Case and Zainab murder case.
Shehbaz Sharif said the Punjab government somersaulted on the issue repeatedly, adding political interference was at its height in the police department in Punjab and Chief Minister Punjab was not independent in taking his decisions.
The Opposition leader asked the Speaker to suspend proceedings of the House for a thorough debate on the matter.
He suggested that a parliamentary committee should be formed to probe causes of the blatant murders.
The recommendations of the committee should be then taken up in the House as the nation was anxious to know why such a heartbreaking incident happened.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan in his statement, agreed about the gravity of the Sahiwal incident and said regular proceedings of the House should be suspended to take up the matter of the grievous incident.
Peoples Party MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the people of Pakistan were in a state of anger and grief over the murderous attack by the security forces that killed the innocent family.
He said the statements issued by the government ministers after the incident were objectionable.
He said every person felt unsafe after the incident, adding after the killings, the ministers made statements that the killed persons were terrorists and were on the way to create destruction in Lahore.
The CTD department at one stage claimed that the persons in the car had abducted children and then Chief Minister regardless of the situation, went to present flowers to the child injured in the attack by the law enforcement personnel.
He asked how he could present flowers to the traumatized child, he expressed.
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said it was claimed that "State of Medina" would be created and asked whether such barbaric incidents happened in the "State of Medina".
He also endorsed that a parliamentary committee should be set up so that the Parliament could send a message that it was determined to provide protection to the citizens and it would not let them get killed in such a way.
Pakistan Muslim League (N) MNA Khawaja Asif also condemned the Sahiwal incident and said in the past, PTI leadership was very vocal about providing justice to the people who fell victims to such incidents.
He criticized the statements issued by the ministers after the incident.
He observed that if the video made by a passenger in the bus would not have surfaced, the CTD would have covered up the incident as it was trying to do with its contradictory statements.
PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik said the persons killed in the incident were well known in the locality in Lahore.
He said people were demanding justice for the victim family.
Dr Amir Liaquat said a lot of incidents of killing of people happened in the past.
He said he believed that Prime Minister would provide justice to the victims of Sahiwal incident.
As Dr Amir Liaquat was concluding his speech, one of his remarks infuriated MNAs from FATA Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir which led to pandemonium in the House.
The Speaker tried to calm things down but afterwards adjourned the House to meet again on Tuesday at 11 a.
m.
APP/C:mnr-muk/P:mnr/L:nsr/R:nsrC:21:48/P:21:53/L:21:53/R:22:07LOGNO: 4071/21/2019 10:07:23 PMversio