Swat protests outcome of humiliation at army check posts: Farhatullah Babar

• PPP senator says peaceful people are being tried on terrorism charges while actual terrorist are enjoying state’s hospitality
• Questions land allotment to retired generals

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Senator Farhatullah Babar on Friday commented on the recent protests in Swat, saying these demonstrations were an outcome of the humiliation and suffering faced by people at the check posts.

The commuting public, particularly women, children and old people, waiting at these check post in long queues was akin to being tortured, the senator said.

Questioning the motives behind the FIR under treason and terrorism charges lodged against the people over protesting such treatment, the senator said that real terrorists enjoyed state protection but innocent people of Swat were being charged with terrorism merely for demanding self-respect.

He demanded that the concerns of the citizens of Swat must be addressed.

He said that self-confessed terrorist and killer of the children of Army Public School was enjoying state hospitality but the peaceful people of Swat were charged with terrorism and asked: “What message we were conveying to the people of Swat?”

Babar raised the question of land allotments to the army generals as post-retirement benefits, saying that his repeated questions on the issue had not been answered.

Speaking on an issue of public importance, he said that that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested a senior civil servant in Lahore allegedly for illegal land transfers.

A day earlier, the NAB reopened a corruption reference against some retired army generals in a land transfer case that remained dormant for over a decade, he said. Earlier, the NAB had also taken action against officials of Sindh government on similar grounds.

Babar said that a former army chief was allotted 88 acres of land but the questions asked about the legality of it were never answered except for a terse statement that it had been done in accordance with the Constitution.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabban, however,r did not allow further discussion and asked the Senator that he may raise the issue through question in the Senate.