ISLAMABAD: The opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly, on Wednesday, demanded the government to give a briefing to the House after nine Chinese engineers among 12 were killed in an “attack” near Dasu hydropower plant.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ahsan Iqbal said the explosion was an attack on the development and “water security” of the country.

He said that foreigners were also killed in the attack, which is not acceptable as it is our responsibility to ensure foolproof security to these people.

In the past, he said that the PML-N government had provided proper security to the workers and engineers of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

He said that the Interior Minister, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, should give a detailed briefing to the House on security situation for the CPEC projects.

Iqbal said that security of important personalities is being withdrawn, which is again a “blunder” on the part of the State.

He said that security is being withdrawn from Awami National Party (ANP) leadership, which has been repeatedly attacked in the past.

“It is inappropriate to take back the security of important personalities as we should put aside political differences when it comes to security of lives,” he added.

Referring to his case when he was targeted when he was the interior minister, he said that he would have had no clue, if there had been no security with him.

Other lawmakers – both from the treasury and the opposition – also said that the Chinese engineers working in any part of the country should be given foolproof security.

They were unanimous in saying that the whole country is united as far as the CPEC projects are concerned as it would prove to be the game changer in history of the country’s development.

They demanded that enemies of Pakistan should be given a befitting response as the defense of the motherland and its development is a shared responsibility, and there would be no compromise on it.

The adviser to the prime minister on parliamentary affairs, Babar Awan, said that such cowardly attacks will not be allowed to impede the development work.

He said that Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid will brief the House on the incident.

He said that there would be no compromise on the security of the CPEC workers, especially, the Chinese working in the country.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) staged walkout separately from the National Assembly in protest against the “derogatory” remarks used by Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Khan Gandapur for their respective leaderships.

During an election rally on Tuesday in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gandapur had lashed out at PPP and PML-N leaderships, terming late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a “traitor” and Nawaz Sharif a “dacoit”.

He alleged that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto divided the country just for the sake of prime minister-ship.

PPP leader Naveed Qamar said that there were some personalities that we see in the historical aspect, adding there were many personalities including Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto whose services could not be denied.

He said that the minister is giving statements about such personalities, which is tantamount to disrespecting the country and its history.

“We should refrain from making such remarks against such personalities,” he added.

With this, Qamar along with other PPP members staged a walkout to register their protest.

Murtaza Javed Abbasi of the PML-N said that federal ministers are using such foul language against his party leadership which one cannot even expect from a person on the street.

If they can resort to such low, he added, then they should not expect us to praise their leader –Prime Minister Imran Khan.

With this the PML-N leaders also staged a walkout from the House.

The treasury members also spoke in the House on the statement of the federal minister against Shaheed Zulfiqar Bhutto.

Raja Riaz of the PTI said that he condemned Gandapur’s language for dubbing late Bhutto as a traitor, and called upon the minister not to indulge in matters of those who are regarded as martyrs.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021