As the condemnation of Badami Bagh incident is pouring in, lawmakers in the Senate on Monday called for giving exemplary punishment to those misusing the blasphemy law for their own vested interest. The lawmakers condemned the police and other law enforcement agencies, saying that their incompetence gave free hand to the mob to set on blaze the Christians' abode, forcing them to flee for their lives.
Saeed Ghani of PPP stressed the need to punish those who misuse the blasphemy law for their own vested interest. Recalling a similar incident of Rimsha Maseeh, a 13 year old Christian girl, who was falsely implicated in a blasphemy case, Ghani said that those exploiting the law should be made an example. "The cleric who registered a false blasphemy case against Rimsha was never tried after he was proved guilty...this is the root cause which gives birth to these unfortunate incidents...if the cleric had been made an example, the others must have learnt a lesson," he maintained.
"My head bowed down in shame [and] I was all sweat in shame when I saw the poor minorities under the open sky after their houses were burnt into ashes by their Muslim brethren," Mohsin Leghari, an independent senator from Punjab decried. Leghari, who also along with Saeed Ghani, a PPP senator moved an adjournment motion to initiate a debate in the house over the Badami Bagh incident, said: "All this happened in the name of our holy Prophet PBUH. Is this the message we [Muslims] want to covey to the world...is this what our religion say. We were disgraced before the whole world".
He noted that it reflected the decay of state, adding the state institutions could establish the writ of the government and the people at the helm of affairs completely failed to deliver. He went on saying that Ahmadis were first to be targeted followed by Shiites in Quetta and the next target will be ultimately remaining sects if the perpetrators were not brought to book. Senator Rubina Irfan of PML-Q demanded a through probe into the incident, saying there was need to find out why the police could not stop the incident despite having in hand information. "This is negligence, which must be sorted out or the day is not far when these notorious terrorists will certainly reach the ministers enclave," she warned.
She came down hard on federal and provincial governments and recommended the house to summon the high ups of all security agencies and ask them to brief the house about the law and order situation in the country "Interior minister Rehman Malik must be having some throat problem as usual otherwise he must have attended Senate session...wherever we ask for a briefing, he runs away. Is this the way the most responsible minister should behave," she questioned.
Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of MQM said that Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed equal rights to all citizens of Pakistan, irrespective of their religion, caste, creed and affiliations. He questioned the performance of police and other law enforcing agencies during this tragedy. Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and other members of MQM held a token walk-out from the house in protest over the incident.
While condemning the miseries facing by minorities in the country, Senator Mushahid Husssain Syed said that the Lahore incident was an organised move against the minorities which was provided shield by the local police. Senator Mushahidullah Khan was of the view that Punjab government paid compensation of Rs 500,000 to each victims besides starting construction of the houses within 24 hours which unprecedented. He said that before targeting Punjab government, the government must realise that Abbas Town affectees were still living under the open sky. Criticising the interior minister Rehman Malik, he said that he [Malik] was busy only in point scoring. Earlier, two bills, "The Capital University Islamabad Bill, 2013" and "The Pakistan Psychological Council Bill, 2013" were referred to the concerned house committees. The house was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday at 10:30am.