Raid at residence of Shibli Faraz: Treasury and opposition join hands in condemnation

ISLAMABAD: Senators from both sides of the aisle; treasury and opposition, Monday, joined hands in their condemnation of the civic management agency’s raid at the residence of Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz, terming this move as tantamount to undermining the dignity of the upper house of parliament.

The house, in its meeting, was resorting to its scheduled business agenda when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Saifullah Abro requested Chairman Senate Yousaf Raza Gilani to be given the floor, which, the chair granted.

Taking the floor, Abro informed the house that Capital Development Authority (CDA) raided the opposition leader’s house without any prior intimation.

“He (Faraz) said something in this house on Friday and there has been a raid at his house today. He is opposition leader, he is supposed to say things,” Abro said.

Condemning the CDA raid, the PTI senator urged the chair to refer this issue to the Senate’s privilege committee.

In response, Law Minister Azam Tarar “deeply regretted” the development involving the CDA and the opposition leader’s residence. “It’s really regrettable that this happened. It is deeply regretted. I will speak to the interior minister and seek a report from the chief commissioner Islamabad and chairman CDA over this issue,” he said. The minister assured that the report would be shared in the house by today (Tuesday).

Manzoor Kakar from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Sherry Rehman from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Irfan Siddiqui from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Naseema Ehsan (independent) and Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur from PTI also strongly condemned the civic agency’s raid, and urged the chair to refer the matter to the privilege committee.

“He (Faraz) has been living in that house in sector F-8 for the last 15 years or so. If there’s any issue related to encroachment, the matter should have been dealt with appropriately. But I don’t think it’s an encroachment issue—the dignity of Senate has been undermined,” PPP’s Rehman said.

“The law minister has assured us to share report regarding CDA raid on opposition leader’s house by tomorrow. We can wait till tomorrow,” the chairman Senate observed.

Naseema Ehsan disclosed in the Senate that her house in Turbat was attacked with a bomb and her family members were facing life threats. The law minister assured her to take up this issue with Balochistan government authorities.

PTI’s Zarqa Taimur and Fawzia Arshad accused PPP’s Palwasha Khan of resorting to “unacceptable” behaviour with the opposition leader in Friday’s Senate session presided over by the PPP senator.

The chairman Senate said that the entire controversy was the result of a “misunderstanding.” He issued a ruling declaring that Khan, having presided over the Friday session, was in accordance with the Senate’s business rules. However, he “personally apologised” to the opposition senators if they felt “hurt.”

The house passed a motion, moved by PPP’s Rehman, for the formation of Senate committees.

Taking the floor, the opposition leader extended his gratitude to treasury benches for their support in the wake of CDA raid. The members of the Senate committees be included on the basis of the strength of political parties in Senate, keeping in view the expertise of the members for relevant committees, he suggested.

The committees be formed within the stipulated deadline that was passing on Monday, Faraz demanded.

New bills were introduced in the house and referred to the relevant standing committees.

The house was adjourned till today (Tuesday).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024