NA pays tributes to Syed Ali Geelani

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution paying rich tributes to veteran Kashmiri leader, Syed Ali Geelani for his relentless struggle for the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

The resolution moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan expressed deep grief and sorrow over the death of the iconic leader of the Kashmir freedom movement.

The first day’s proceedings of the National Assembly session abruptly summoned on Thursday evening, was adjourned due to lack of quorum after adopting the unanimous resolution. The Government was scheduled to move a motion in the House seeking to refer the Election (Amendment) Bill, 2021. However, the opposition’s protest and lack of quorum constrained the Government to take up any item from the order of the day.

The resolution recognized that the late leader devoted his life to the freedom movement and always raised his voice for the rights of oppressed Kashmiri people and against the Indian atrocities. “Syed Ali Geelani gave further impetus to the freedom movement by facing all sorts of oppression including incarceration,” the resolution stated.

The House noted the famous words of Geelani that ‘Hum Pakistani Hein Aur Pakistan Hamara Hai’ (We are Pakistani and Pakistan is ours) became a unanimous slogan of the Kashmiri nation. The house strongly condemned the repressive Indian regime for snatching the body of Geelani from his family, denying him the proper burial as per the Muslim traditions and lodging fake cases against the bereaved family. It demanded of the international community especially the Muslim Ummah stop India from such cheap tactics. The House expressed the confidence that the Kashmiri people will succeed in their just struggle for the right to self-determination.

Earlier, the PPP parliamentarians Syed Naveed Qamar registered his protest the way the House was summoned at 6 pm on Thursday. “We protest the way the House is being run and press gallery was locked on eve of joint sitting of the Parliament,” he said.

Khawaja Saad Rafique of PML-N also supported the views of Naveed Qamar saying that it was not justified to summon the National Assembly session on short notice. Agha Rafiullah of PPP who pointed out the lack of quorum regretted the closure of the Press gallery during joint sitting of the Parliament particularly when Asad Qaisar is the custodian of the House. He suggested that at least two to three notices should be given to summon the session as the members have to travel to Islamabad from their native towns across the country.

The Speaker said he had already given his views about the closure of the Press gallery on the occasion of the joint session. At the outset, the House offered fateha for the departed souls of Syed Ali Gilani and Balochistan’s former Chief Minister Sardar Ataullah Mengal.