Parliamentarians Monday asked the Ministry of Interior to brief them about the nature of objections raised by Financial Action Task Force (FATAF) for putting Pakistan on the grey list.
The legislatures raised the matter regarding FATAF objections while discussing "The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) (Amendment) Bill, 2019" moved by Senator Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior presided over Senator Rehman Malik.
The bill sought that NACTA should lay its periodical reports in the Parliament so that public representatives may also oversee them and formulate pragmatic proposals for the government.
After Senator Shaikh withdrew his bill, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Senator Muhammad Azam Khan Swati said that NACTA is dealing with sensitive issues; therefore, withdrawing such a bill is a good step. "We are already in difficult situation due to FATA and, therefore, making sensitive information public would create more problems," he said.
Senator Naek asked, "Can we know about the objections raised by FATAF for putting Pakistan on the grey list? What is the nature of these objections and should the Parliament be briefed about it?" He further said that amendment has been proposed in many laws for fulfillment of FATAF requirements. He said that list of objections raised by FATAF should be submitted before the committee.
Malik said that FATF has forwarded 150 more questions to Pakistan. He asked Ministry of Interior to inform the committee about nature of these questions.
The committee decided to take an in-camera briefing on what the demands are from Pakistan and what Pakistan is doing to fulfill them in relation to grey list of FATF in the second week of January.
The committee condemned the recent discriminatory legislation carried out in India while Fateha (prayer) was offered for the martyrs of Kashmir and those who were killed during protest against the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act-2019.
During the meeting, Director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Islamabad Zone Dr Moeen Masood briefed the committee on the status of inquiries underway at FIA against officers and officials of Capital Development Authority (CDA) involved in alleged corruption and irregularities. The committee was informed that a total of 57 inquiries are underway.
Malik directed the FIA to come up with complete statistics of all such cases in the next meeting of the committee.
Senior police officer of Punjab Police briefed the committee regarding abduction and killing of four children in Chunian, Kasur. The four children were kidnapped in June, August and September in an area of 5 kilometers. A JIT was formed under RPO Sheikhupura and since the incidents, 80 more children have been recovered from different places in Kasur.
DPO Kasur told the committee that a comprehensive security plan was issued with stop and search plans and active intelligence work. Search operations, DNA profiling, forensic examination and crime analysis were carried out. Seven special teams were constituted, he said.
He said as many as 2,649 people were interrogated for DNA, 47 were interrogated as prime suspects, and data of 904 rickshaw drivers was collected and then short-listed to 48 for DNA sampling. Forty people with criminal record were short-listed, 6,545 coordinates were selected from the vicinity for geo-fencing, and 4,684 houses were checked, he said.
He said that accused Sohail Shahzada was arrested on 1st October and he had also remained a victim in past. Trial commenced on November 25 and he has been sentenced to death.
The committee expressed his deep concern over the alarming increase in the child abuses incidents across the country. Malik directed the secretary interior to bring amendments in the relevant sections of law of evidence and suggest more stringent punishment for those who commit such crimes of heinous nature, while investigations should be based on modern technologies.
Senator Javed Abbasi was of the view that there is dire need to bring awareness among the children by including contents regarding child abuse in curricula all over the country.
The meeting was also attended by Senator Sardar Shafiq Tareen and Senator Dr Shehzad Waseem as members of the committee, Maulana Attaur Rehman as special invitee, and senior officers form the Ministry of Interior, CDA, MCI, FIA, Punjab Police and other departments.
Comments
Comments are closed.