State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry on Tuesday said that a total of 418 protesters were arrested while 27 cases, including 12 cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act, were registered against the participants of the Faizabad sit-in.
While responding to a calling attention notice moved by PTI member Ghulam Sarwar Khan regarding failure of the government to investigate into the incident of Faizabad sit-in, the minister said that the challans (charge-sheets) of some cases have also been submitted in the relevant courts.
He said that the courts are hearing some cases and some accused are on bail. He said that in some cases, charge-sheets have already been submitted while accused are still in jails and their cases were in the various courts.
He said the main reason of the sit-in was a unanimous bill passed by the National Assembly about the Finality of Prophethood. He said that all parties in the Parliament had supported the bill, but later they tried to use it against the government.
The Lower House of the Parliament also passed a resolution congratulating the speaker and the parliamentarians on the initiative of establishing parliamentary task force on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The resolution was moved by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb in the House.
According to the resolution, "The Parliamentary Task Force on Sustainable Development Goals enabled the Pakistan's Parliament to lead the global development agenda among the comity of global parliamentary fraternity."
The resolution further said, "As the fact that Pakistan's Parliament is the first Parliament in the world to have a fully-functional and state-of-the-art SDGs Secretariat which has been acknowledged by international parliamentary organizations and partners as an example to follow."
This House also acknowledged that on the recommendations of the speaker, the provincial legislatures also established similar task forces, which worked in close liaison with the Federal Parliamentary Task Force thus leading the parliamentary sustainable development agenda by having evidence based oversight, representation and legislation.
"In view of the achievement of this benchmark, this House recommends that the Parliamentary Task Force on SDGs be made a permanent feature for future parliaments to follow."
The resolution also pointed out that Pakistan's Parliament is the first one which established the SDGs Secretariat to oversee the implementation of development goals.
The House also passed another resolution moved by PML-N legislator Malik Abrar, wherein the House demanded that 15 Ramazan be observed as National Day of Orphans. It pointed out that there are 4.2 million orphan children in Pakistan and there is need to create awareness about their rights.
The resolution said that concrete steps should also be taken for proper upbringing of orphans and provision of better health and education facilities to them.
Responding to a calling attention notice regarding non-payment of honorarium equivalent to the three basic pays for financial year 2017-18 to all employees of the federal government, Minister of State for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan said that a summary regarding payment of honorarium has been sent to federal cabinet for reconsideration and approval. He said that the federal cabinet can accept or reject the summary.
The minister said that after the decision of the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister has no powers to award honorarium to employees.
Earlier, Asiya Nasir spoke on a point of order about the rights of minorities and said that they are not equally treated. She said that the population of Christians in Pakistan has been reduced in the latest census; therefore, they reject the results.
She also demanded that representation of the religious minorities should be increased in the Parliament.
The speaker stated that the minorities are equal citizens of Pakistan. He said, "They are as dear to us as any other people."
Speaking on a point of order, PTI member Dr Shireen Mazari questioned as to why the government is silent on the US sanctions on Iran. The government should clarify whether it will support the US sanctions on Iran or imposed by the United Nations as the neighboring India has refused to accept the US sanctions on Iran.
She also said that the Parliament should pay tribute to sacrifices of Pakistani troops deployed in the US Peacekeeping Missions for their sacrifices on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
PTI MNA Sajida Begum during the proceedings of the House pointed out quorum. The deputy speaker suspended the House due to lack of quorum. After 20 minutes, the House met again and deputy speaker asked for counting but the quorum was not complete and he adjourned it till today (Wednesday).
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