A heated Punjab Assembly session on Monday witnessed an array of allegations over the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, and a token walkout by opposition legislators.
Law Minister Rana Sanaullah assured the House of sincere efforts for the recovery of Shahbaz Taseer while the opposition expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s performance in the case. The House proceedings took a wrong turn when, in response the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s demands that Sanaullah prove his innocence in the Taseer’s kidnapping, the law minister asked PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader in Punjab Assembly Shaukat Basra to prove the innocence of President Asif Ali Zardari in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Speaking on the call-attention notice regarding Taseer’s abduction, Basra asked the Punjab government to give a certain date for his recovery and also expressed disappointment as well as dissatisfaction over the provincial government’s efforts to recover Taseer, saying that even after 17 days of the incident provincial authorities had no knowledge of his whereabouts.
He said if Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s son Hamza Shahbaz had been kidnapped in place of Shahbaz Taseer, all the high-ups of Punjab Police would have been sacked and he certainly would have been recovered. Seconding Basra, Opposition Leader Raja Riaz said that because of the sensitive nature of the case, the chief minister should come into the House and take the assembly into confidence by sharing details of the case. Responding to the notice, Sanaullah told the house that a Joint Investigation Team under the supervision of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ali Ahmed Malik was investigating the case and had achieved some success in the matter, and that the Taseer family had also been taken onboard. He also told the House that for the sake of Shahbaz’s security, the achievements in the case could not be made public or shared with the House.
WALKOUT: He also told Basra to get a final date of the arrest of the murderers of former minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti from interior Minister Rehman Malik. Opposition Leader Raja Riaz then announced a token walkout in protest against the law minister and all opposition members left the forum. Earlier when the session started at 4pm, the ill-equipped Parliamentary Secretary on Local Government Chaudhry Abdul Razzaq Dhillon was grilled by his party mates from the treasury benches during the question hour for inaccurate replies in response to all the queries regarding his department.
AYAZ AMIR: Later, PPP-backed legislator from Chakwal Fauzia Behram, on a point of order, raised the issue of a 15-year-old girl’s rape in her district and alleged that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Ayaz Amir and seven accomplices were involved in the incident. She said police were not registering the case so the speaker should order the district coordination officer concerned and other police authorities to look into the matter. The speaker asked her to bring the issue in writing to the House.
