Opposition protests over FBR’s summoning of Palestinian envoy

ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Senate on Tuesday strongly protested against FBR for directly summoning the Palestinian ambassador to Pakistan for alleged misuse of vehicles, dubbing it in total violation of the Geneva Convention, and international diplomatic norms.

Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani referred the matter to the House standing committee on foreign affairs, headed by PML-N Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who raised it on the floor of the Senate as a matter of public importance.

He said that FBR had seized the ambassador’s two vehicles and sent him a notice to appear before them in this connection. He deplored that the ambassador of a friendly country and the ambassador of the state of Palestine was subjected to this very unfortunate treatment. He pointed out that from Quaid-e-Azam, to Zulfiqar Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had followed a consistent policy in support of Palestine and against Israel.

Senator Mushahid called for a thorough probe into the matter and said that FBR had apologised today but this was not acceptable. He termed this treatment absolutely uncalled for.

Leader of Opposition Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq also termed it as a very unfortunate incident and said this was against Pakistan’s consistent policy regarding Palestine and was tantamount to spoiling all that.

In line with the continued policy, the government of Pakistan had offered to help them construct their own embassy in Islamabad, who face Israeli attacks every now and then and brave untold atrocities. They fully supported the demand for an inquiry into it.

Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Waseem clarified that the FBR issue was related to vehicles and referred to media reports about the misuse of vehicle facility by ambassadors in general. However, he said it was unfortunate to try to link it with Israel or Pakistan’s stand on Palestine.

Earlier, the House adopted by majority the Islamabad Capital Territory Trust (amendment) Bill and the Control of Narcotic Substances (Amendment) Bill; both are related to FATF.

JI Senator Sirajul Haq called for consideration of his eight amendments in the amendment bill on narcotics substances but the chair said the laid down procedure would be followed.

While presenting a motion for seeking 60 more days for the presentation of a House committee report on a question asked by JUI-Fazl Senator Muhammad Talha Mehmood regarding the present position of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, Senator Mushahid said that the government had not been able to give a satisfactory response to the committee on how to get her released or provision of relief to her in Texas prison, where he had met her. He contended that the matter needed to be taken up at the highest level by Pakistan and the United States and that President Trump could give amnesty to her on Pakistan's request or in the form of a swap or arrangement of a quid pro quo.

During the question hour, the House was informed that as many as 15 countries and international organizations had committed to providing an amount of over $3302 million to Pakistan as loans, grants and technical assistance in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Replying to a question, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said that out of the total committed amount over $2660 million had been disbursed so far. Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar told the House that the government had been making continuous efforts for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills.

He said at present PSM was facing liabilities of Rs236 billion and that all options were being considered to revive the mills. He noted that a transactional advisor would submit the related report of recommendations.