NA opposition wants MPs panel on Sahiwal incident

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly opposition Tuesday pressed the government for formation of a parliamentary committee to look into the Sahiwal incident, examine the JIT and make recommendations.

The House decided to continue debate on the tragedy.

Taking part in the debate, PPP leader Syed Khursheed Shah said killing people in the name of countering terrorism was unacceptable.

“It’s the first time that children of 5, 7, 10 and 13 years of age are being declared as terrorists,” he said.

He said the Punjab government had badly failed to protect the citizens’ lives.

He said on the one hand four provincial ministers had claimed that the deceased were terrorists, on the other Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had announced compensation for the deceased’s heirs.

“This incident needs a deep investigation. A parliamentary committee should be formed to investigate [the incident] and examine the JIT report. The nation should know the facts and the culprits should get an exemplary punishment,” he said.

Shah said Parliament should be utilised to determine as to who were responsible for the incident and who gave the wrong information.

“This incident reminds us of the dictatorial era when innocent people were targeted and killed,” he said.

Rai Murtaza Iqbal of PTI said provision of security was the sole responsibility of the state and the case should be tried either in a military court or sent for summary trial to be decided within three months.

Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf of PML-N said a strict action should be taken against those responsible for the incident.

Shehnaz Baloch said better training should be imparted to the law enforcement agencies’ personnel to prevent such incidents in future.

Saif-ur-Rehman of PTI said an independent probe should be carried out into the matter to fix responsibility.

He questioned as to why action was not taken against SSP Karachi Rao Anwar who was involved in killing innocent people.

“It should be investigated as to who had closed links with Rao Anwar and declared him as a ‘brave child’,” he said.

He also demanded investigation into Rao’s encounters, crimes, assets and how he managed to travel abroad in his salary. Clarifying allegations against the Sindh government of protecting Rao Anwar, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said the fate of Rao Anwar will be decided but the courts and Sindh government had nothing to do with him.

He said Sahiwal incident was a national tragedy but it seemed efforts were being made to divert the public attention from the issue.

“The JIT report should be presented in this House and debated,” he demanded.

Maulana Abdul Wasey of MMA said Parliament had passed the Police Act under which the security forces and civilian law enforcement agencies’ personnel were giving powers to arrest, fire or take all necessary actions.