Arrival of UN mission sparks outcry in NA
11 September, 2012
ISLAMABAD: The arrival of a United Nations team to probe missing persons issue in the country sparked outcry in the National Assembly. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) member Raza Hayat Hiraj severely criticised the team for interfering in the country's internal matters. "The permission granted to this team seems to be a step towards self-determination for Balochistan as this team will file a biased report," Hiraj said on a point of order. PML-Nawaz lawmaker Saad Rafiq criticised the army for getting back three of its retired generals, involved in NLC scam, into service for court-martial. "Generals are a divine creature and they cannot be prosecuted in civilian courts," he said in a bitter tone. Hiraj asked about the real motive behind the arrival of the UN team. He said, "Is Pakistan a banana republic? Why is the UN team investigating this issue?" He said that ninety percent of the Baloch were patriotic Pakistanis. The UN team would approach the one percent who were in favour of independence to make a case against Pakistan, he added. "This report will be submitted in the UN and then the ground will be prepared for self-determination," he added. Hiraj said it was a failure on the part of the Foreign Office and sought reply from the government, which prompted NA Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi to ask federal minister Manzoor Wattoo to take up the issue. "It is an important matter. Hiraj should submit an adjournment motion so that debate can be initiated," Wattoo said. Earlier, Saad Rafiq blasted the army generals for considering themselves above the law while referring to the NICL scandal in which the army took back three retried army generals in service for their court-martial. Referring to the Public Accounts Committee, which has been probing into this issue, Saad said it was a constitutional body but the army generals had made mockery of parliament through this act. Saad said that he knew that one had to pay the price for speaking out against these acts, however, he declared that he would do it because it was meant to insult the army institution. "When top judiciary sent an elected prime minister packing then why can't it touch the generals," he maintained. He also lashed at the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by dubbing it a "bad evil of Musharraf's rule" and referred to millions of corruption by its consultant unearthed by the Anti-Corruption Department Punjab, however, the investigation was stopped by NAB. Baloch want direct talks with UN mission The BSO-Azad, in a letter to the UN, has requested its Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances to directly speak to the people of Balochistan and families of the Baloch missing persons. "This situation has left us with no hope at all whilst there are hundreds of Baloch youths and activists who are at risk of abduction by the authorities. Therefore, we request that the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances speak to the people of Balochistan and more importantly to the families of missing persons." It has also requested the UN to constitute a monitoring body on forced disappearances that also ensures regular reporting on the issue. It further requests that a follow-up mechanism, post the country mission, be put in place. End.
|
