‘Missing’ PTI workers: ‘We don’t know whether they are alive or dead,’ Shibli tells Senate

ISLAMABAD: The D-Chowk debacle has resonated in the upper house of the Parliament too — with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) informing the Senate that the death toll of D-Chowk violence victims has increased from 12 to 13 persons following the demise of one more protestor.

“I just received the information that one more of the protestors has been confirmed dead. We have now confirmed toll of 13 martyrs,” Leader of the Opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz told the Senate on the maiden day of the house’s 344th session.

More than 200 protestors of the D-Chowk protest are missing, and more than 5,000 PTI members are in jails, he said. “Those who are missing, we don’t know whether they are alive or dead,” the opposition leader said.

“The protestors were directly shot at—the purpose of this firing was to kill them,” he added.

The government hospitals are not providing the record of casualties and injuries, and are not issuing death certificates of the deceased, Faraz said, adding that the hospitals declined to conduct the autopsies.

“The peaceful protestors took to roads for their future, endless bullets were sprayed on them,” Faraz lamented.

“The foundation of 24 November was laid down on 8 February— when our mandate was stolen following unprecedented rigging in these elections,” the senator said.

The Senate seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been left vacant, and reserved seats have not been allotted to the PTI in the assemblies in order to keep the PTI deprived of its mandate, Faraz said.

In response, Ishaq Dar, the Leader of the House in Senate, accused the PTI of 2018 general elections rigging. “If you want accountability of 2024 general elections, then you have to go back to 2018 general elections. You give us our mandate, and let us complete our tenure in power, then you complete your tenure in power,” he said.

“Courts are there to hear and decide cases related to 8 February general elections.”

Dar said peaceful protests are everyone’s right. “But the use of state resources, like machinery and equipment, is not allowed,” Dar added.

He criticised the PTI for launching protest ahead of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Islamabad in October.

Earlier, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb denied that the clearance of commercial goods was pending at the Gwadar Port due to the negligence of senior customs officials concerned.

“No goods declaration is pending at the Gwadar Port at any assessment or examination stage,” he responded to a calling attention notice moved by Danesh Kumar from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

Through the calling attention notice, Kumar withdrew the finance minister’s attention towards the “absence from duty of the customs officers posted in Customs Collectorate Gwadar Zone, effecting overall functionality and operational efficiency of Gwadar Port.”

Speaking on the notice, Kumar said, the senior customs officials assigned to Gwadar, including the collector, deputy collector, among others, have residences in Karachi. “They run customs operations related to Gwadar from Karachi,” the senator said, adding that commercial goods were awaiting clearance at the Gwadar Port due to the unavailability of the senior customs officers.

The finance minister said the customs collector remains available at the Gwadar Port where he has been provided accommodation by the port authorities. WeBOC system has been rolled out at the Gwadar International Terminal, 24/7, to streamline the operations, the minister added.

The Gwadar airport would be operational with the help of China, he said.

Prior to that, Humayun Mohmand from PTI asked the housing minister, in the question hour, whether a number of construction firms submitted forged bank guarantees to the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) in the last three years.

Housing Minister Riaz Pirzada said one firm provided fake bank guarantee of over 710 billion rupees to the FGEHF. The matter, he said, is being probed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The Senate session was adjourned till Thursday (Dec 12).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024