Opposition leader in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani on Thursday alleged that opposition senators from Balochistan and their relatives were being harassed for raising their voice for the rights of province.
Talking to a group of journalists here, Rabbani charged that the abduction of two brothers of Senator Sanaullah Baloch and as many cousins of another Baloch Senator Shahid Hasan Bugti by the agencies was breach of their privilege and total negation of the Constitution.
Senator Rabbani advocated for legislation to stop the security agencies from resorting to such actions. However, he did not elaborate on it. He made it clear that those picked up had nothing to do with politics, but the government was promoting 'thana culture' and harassing the senators. "The mysterious missing of people has become part of this government's policy".
Senator Sanaullah represents the Balochistan National Party (Mengal) while Senator Shahid Bugti is Jamhoori Watan Party's Secretary General. To harass and force senators not to speak on the problems of their province was in violation of the freedom of expression, enshrined in the Constitution, he argued.
The senator called upon the Chairman Senate's Standing Committee on Human Rights to convene a meeting to discuss the issue. He said that one of the two brothers of Sanaullah Baloch, released recently had revealed that he was taken away by the security agency personnel. No one knows about the whereabouts of his second brother.
Opposition leader condemned the action and asked the government to desist from such policies. Raza Rabbani regretted that by such actions, the courts were also being rendered meaningless, hoping the Supreme Court would play its active role in safeguarding the citizens' rights, ensuring its writ.
He demanded of the government to produce the abductees (relatives of Baloch senators) in courts, if cases had been filed against them. Otherwise, this is a sheer violation of human rights, he contended.
During the upcoming Senate session, Rabbani said that the issue would be raised on the floor of the House along with other opposition parties. The upper house of the parliament has been summoned by President Pervez Musharraf to meet on August 2 in the afternoon.
To a question, he said that the opposition had not approached the Senate Chairman Mohammed-mian Soomro or Deputy Chairman Jan Mohammad Jamali. He was of the view that such incidents could be checked if the government sincerely took necessary measures thereon.
Comments
Comments are closed.