KP Assembly condemns airstrike on madrassa in Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed a resolution against the airstrike on a madrassa in Kunduz province in Afghanistan in which scores of innocent students and civilians were killed.

The resolution moved by Fakhre Azam Wazir of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). It blamed the US for the airstrike, though reports from Afghanistan had said the attack was launched by the Afghan Air Force.

The resolution said: “This House condemns the brutal strike on a religious seminary in Kunduz province of Afghanistan where more than 100 innocent students were martyred and terms it an open terrorism of America. It recommends to the provincial government to ask the federal government to raise voice on international forums against the United States’ open terrorism and expose it to the world community and UN should also take strict notice of the US brutalities against Muslims.”

Through another resolution moved by Fakhre Azam Wazir, who was elected from Bannu, and signed by representatives of other political parties, it was demanded that the 18th Constitutional Amendment should be implemented in letter and spirit as it ensures equal opportunities of development and progress to all the federating units and all the institutions should follow it without any further amendment or intention to roll it back.

Earlier, Mehmood Khan Bhittani of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) on a point of order condemned the Kunduz incident and killing of innocent students of a madrassa.

He said the US brutalities against innocent civilians were a conspiracy against the Muslims. The US should be condemned in strong words for committing such heinous crimes against humanity, he added.

Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi also condemned the incident on behalf of the treasury benches and said it was part of the US conspiracy against Muslims.

Later, dissident member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Amjad Afridi, on a point of order protested the government’s discrimination in the issue of funds’ release and said the oil and gas royalty to his constituency in Kohat had not been released for the last one and a half years.

He said it was the justice of the “claimants of change” to stop release of funds and deprive the people of their constitutional rights. He stressed that the government should be ashamed of the discrimination and step-motherly attitude adopted by it.

He said the PTI government had broken all records of mismanagement, failure and discrimination.

In his reply, Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi held Amjad Afridi responsible for the non-release of oil and gas royalty to Kohat division. He reminded that the government had released Rs1 billion on account of oil and gas royalty but Amjad Afridi got stay from the Peshawar High Court. “Now the funds cannot be released due to the ban imposed by the Election Commission,” he said. He also condemned the Election Commission and said the ban was illegal and unconstitutional.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sehat Insaf Bill, 2018 was also introduced in the House before Speaker Asad Qaiser adjourned the session till April 16. The session continued just for 13 minutes during which the resolutions and bill were presented.