Senators demand probe into Faizabad sit-in

ISLAMABAD: Legislators on both sides of the aisle in the Senate on Thursday demanded investigation into the recent sit-in at Faizabad to expose the characters behind it, as some of them called November 25 a day of the state’s surrender to an unruly mob after the government showed complete helplessness to deal with the crisis.

As Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is set to chair a crucial meeting of heads of parliamentary parties today (Friday) to clinch the opposition’s vital support for passage of the delimitation bill from the Senate, PPP’s Leader of Opposition Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday in the Senate said they were ready to vote for the bill if the ‘government showed some flexibility.’

While speaking on a debate over the situation arising out of recent Faizabad sit-in of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR), he said that PPP would go in the meeting with an open and a positive approach, for it wanted to show its commitment to the Constitution and the Federation. However, legislators on both sides of the aisle were unanimous in demanding a parliamentary probe into the sit-in and the way the government surrendered to the protesters by signing a one-page document.

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif came under fire for his presence at the OIC Summit while the other chief ministers were left out. Aitzaz said, “Though I can’t give commitment, yet I think there would be some positive outcome of the meeting summoned by prime minister but the government would have to show some flexibility and I am sure the PM will do so, as I know him as colleague.” He said that the only demand of PPP was at least 5 percent re-audit of provisional census results. About the Faizabad sit-in, he lashed out at leadership of the TLYR for using abusive language during their protest and said that the sit-in had exposed the faces of some religious leaders. “This was a new aspect of protest sit-in, as it was purely on the religious matter called by a religious party,” he said. But this sit-in has exposed many secrets,” he claimed. He said that the government had been conceding its space and surrendering its authority and added the government had surrendered the space for which the people got agitated. The biggest concession the government made in the agreement was the appreciation of the Chief of Army Staff. “For God’s sake take care of this space,” he advised the government and added that the ruling PML-N was giving a message that perhaps the system was being rolled. “But our helplessness is that we want to stand by you,” he contended.

Aitzaz said that the government was giving a wrong expression that a conspiracy was being thatched against it, as it was enjoying the government in the Centre and two provinces. He criticised the participation of Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit held in Istanbul and questioned why PM did not accompany the other chief ministers for the summit.

While himself giving the reason of the only participation of CM Punjab, he said that Istanbul was only a stepping stone and their real destination was London. “You have done nothing in OIC and you are holding meeting in London at the expense of national exchequer,” he alleged. He criticised the vandalism of lawyers in Multan and said that the incident had disgraced the dignity of the lawyers’ fraternity.

PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar called for judicial probe in the Faizabad dharna culminating in what he said a one-page 'national document of surrender' that set up a dangerous template to hold state and society hostage by a gun and stick wielding mob of few hundreds. “On that day something profound happened and Pakistan ceased to be the country that was before. The state surrender on November 25 before the mob will only give additional handle to our adversaries to claim that nuclear assets were unsafe and could be hijacked by a few thousand armed people,” he warned. He continued the stage for surrender was set by the statement on the eve of operation that seemed to equate the legitimately-elected government with the stick-wielding unruly mob engaged in a legitimate contest. “By calling for no violence from either side equal legitimacy was conferred on legal state institutions and the mob. It is inconceivable to engage in operation like Raddul Fasaad without the state using violence,” he said.

Babar said, “The question before us is whether we accept defeat for all times or we take it as one of the low points in our history, overcome it and move on. It needs to be probed as to how the protesters came all the way from Lahore unhindered, how they were sustained for three weeks, who negotiated the terms of surrender and why some appeared to be rewarded with cash at the end of the dharna.” He said it also needed to be investigated whether it was an isolated incident or the strange events of the past weeks in Karachi, Islamabad, Faizabad and in Lahore were interconnected in some ways.