Senate body seeks report on armed man outside Parliament House

ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Committee on Interior while declaring an untoward incident that took place on July 12, when a man was seen wielding weapons in front of the Parliament House as a major security lapse and sought detailed report on it.

The members of the committee asserted that this was a major security lapse and regular snap checks must be conducted to ensure that no such incident is repeated in future.

The meeting of the Senate’s committee of the interior was chaired by its chairman Senator Mohsin Aziz and the agenda entailed consideration of the COVID-19 (Prevention of Hoarding) Bill, 2021, the Islamabad Capital Territory Charities Registration, Regulation and Facilitation Bill, 2021, suo motu notice by chairman committee, Senator Mohsin Aziz regarding a sexual harassment video that went viral and a briefing by the ministry on measures taken for the prevention of child labour was taken up. Regarding the suo motu notice that was taken by committee chairman about a viral video and the committee was informed that the victim couple is hesitant to reveal their identity which makes the case tricky.

The main accused along with seven other accomplices are in custody including the main accused Usman Mirza and two video makers while efforts were going on to arrest another culprit. Members of the committee stressed the need for boosting security. It was asserted that an example must be set so that such incidents are not repeated and penalties must be publicised. The committee was informed that the assaulted Islamabad couple was blackmailed and the suspects threatened to kill them as they highlighted that the culprits had extorted Rs1.1 million from the victims.

The committee’s chairman asked what action was taken so far; why weren’t steps taken to prevent it from going viral, and is the video longer than five minutes?

Responding to the questions, police officials said the video was recorded in November 2020, but as soon as it went viral, a case was registered against the suspects. “We have tracked the victims, and they want to keep a low profile. In their statement, they had informed us that the suspects had extorted money from them,” officials said.

To the query of the committee, the DIG Islamabad told the committee that the Special Joint Investigation team has been formed and those sections which might lead to life imprisonment or death, have been added in the FIR. He further said under the anti-rape law, a special joint team has been set up, which will conduct in-camera investigations.

To the question of the chairman Senate’s committee on interior regarding reasons of video going viral, the director Cyber Crime Wing told the committee that after the video, the cyber crime wing has blocked 27 URL and a report has been sent to the PTA. They also told the committee that Cyber Crime has written to PTA for the deletion of the video from 16 different URL.