Seeks motion against Nisar over statement that govt had no proof against cleric; says govt deliberately not arresting cleric because of fear or complicity
ISLAMABAD: PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar Friday produced documents in the Senate to prove his point that the Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz was an absconder.
During the last sitting of the 123rd session, opposition senators asked for sharing facts with the nation pertaining to the Army Public School, Peshawar tragedy and sought constitution of a judicial commission thereon.
Babar alleged that the government was deliberately not arresting the cleric either because of fear or complicity. He sought to move a privilege motion against Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for ‘incorrectly stating in the House recently that the government did not move against Maulana Aziz because there was no proof and no case against him.
The documents included a copy of the FIR of December 19, 2014 against the cleric, the warrants of arrest issued the same day, the court direction to declare him absconder, the advertisement declaring Aziz an absconder and a copy of the official communication to mobile phone companies by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to suspend services in selected areas in the vicinity of Lal Masjid to prevent the dissemination of Aziz's Friday sermons.
“In addition, the Lal Masjid cleric had publicly declared allegiance to Daesh and sought its support, which too is in public knowledge,” the senator said.
He claimed that these documents, which were also available with the Interior Ministry, proved that the interior minister's statement in the Senate on December 30 last was devoid of truth and facts.
He urged the Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani to send the matter to the privilege committee as the privilege of the House had been breached. Alternatively, he said the government be directed to formally explain contradiction between what the minister stated on December 30 in the Senate and the facts highlighted by these documents.
Senator Babar emphasised that in the next Senate session, a reply from the minister be sought on his policy statement vis-à-vis these documents. In a policy statement on December 30 on the implementation of National Action Plan, the interior minister had also said that if anyone came up with documentary evidence, his ministry will take action immediately regardless of political considerations. The chairman then directed the minister for parliamentary affairs to file a comprehensive reply to this, saying apparently breach of privilege had not happened.
Later, in an emotional brief speech, Senator Rubina Khalid of PPP said the grieving parents of the Army Public School martyrs did not want emotional songs, compensations or anything else but constitution of a judicial commission to probe the tragedy.
She said parents send their young ones to schools, colleges and universities for education and not to offer martyrdom. “If I know, my son will face threat, I shall not send him to school. Life can be laid down by our sons at the border while fighting the enemy but not academic institutions,” she asserted.
“Had the National Action Plan been implemented in letter and spirit, Bacha Khan University tragedy might not have happened,” she emphasized. Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Sirajul Haq called for formation of a truth commission, as presently, the government was not willing to share facts about the APS terrorist attack, Charsadda massacre, Pathankot airbase raid and Lal Masjid operation.
He regretted that the government did not believe in taking nation into confidence on such critical happenings. The senator proposed to the prime minister to convene an APC afresh on the National Action Plan (NAP) and also apprise the nation of the progress made in its implementation and the impediments coming in its way so far.
Senator Maulana Attaur Rehman of JUI-F agitated on what he called perpetual disgrace and insult being meted out to ulema and students of his Jamaat seminaries, particularly in the Punjab in the name National Action Plan.
