Karachi, September 07, 2023 (PPI-OT): The Pakistan People’s Party is gravely disappointed and dismayed over disallowing requisition of the Senate to discuss the recent Jaranwala mayhem in the name of religion.
Twenty-seven senators had submitted a signed requisition notice in the senate secretariat on September 1 under clause 3 of Article 54 read with Article 61 of the Constitution. PPP Senator Shahadat Awan submitted the notice on their behalf
However, five days later in a letter dated September 6 the senate secretariat said that the signatures of five PPP senators on the requisition motion “do not match with their signatures on the Roll of the Members” and therefore the “requisition does not fulfill the requirements for summoning of the senate session by the Honorable chairman senate”.
The five PPP senators whose signatures allegedly did “not match with their signatures on the Roll of the Members” were identified by the senate secretariat as Farooq H Naek, Mian Raza Rabbani, Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan, Rubina Khalid and Shamim Afridi. In addition, the signatures of Senator Muhammad Akram were also declared to be not matching with his signatures on the Roll of the Members.
Expressing dismay over it PPPP Secretary General and president of the Human Rights Cell former senator Farhatullah Babar said in a statement that it was surprising that the senate secretariat did not call anyone of these six senators to confirm whether they had signed the requisition notice or not.
Instead, it unilaterally concluded that the signatures did not match and thus the number of senators required to sign a requisition fell below the mandatory number and rejected the requisition notice, he said. “It is unprecedented, inexplicable and betrays more than meets the eye”.
He said it was a standard practice to check with the purported signatories by placing a phone call to them for verification but for some reasons it was not done.
“It appears that some elements for reasons best known to them did not want to discuss the shameful Jaranwala mayhem marked by the desecration of churches and the loot and plunder of Christians’ homes and properties”, he said.
He said that the parliament has already been gravely undermined by elements inimical to it through both overt and covert means and one looks up to the custodians of the House to lift it from the abyss to which it has been thrown into.
However small and insignificant it may appear to be, a requisition notice nonetheless may be viewed as a small bid by the House to assert itself by raising issues of national importance.
“However, when the custodian of the House also appears to be scuttling such a small move and throws the requisition notice in the dustbin the hopelessness increases”, he said.
He said that by rejecting the requisition notice on flimsy grounds a highly disturbing message had been sent to the Christians and other non Muslim minorities. The PPP deplores the sending out of such an insensitive message, he said.
It is most unfortunate that such a message has been sent out during the year of Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Constitution of Pakistan that guarantees their safety and security and the security of their places of worship.
For more information, contact:
PPP Media Cell (Sindh)
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Peoples Secretariat Shikarpur Colony,
Behind Mazar-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, Pakistan
Cell: +92-305-3370383
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.ppp.org.pk