Murder of US national: Senate body summons KP, Punjab police chiefs

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Interior, on Tuesday, summoned Inspectors General Police (IGPs) Punjab and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to appear in person before it and submit detailed report regarding the murder of US national of Pakistan origin whose dead body was recovered from Lakki Marwat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Senator Mohsin Aziz, while presiding over the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Interior asked the IGP Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to submit a report about the murder of the US national of Pakistan origin 47-year-old, Wajiha Farooq Swati, during the next meeting of the committee. Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar said that justice should be provided to the deceased family.

The children of the deceased were abroad; therefore, State be made complainant and effectively pursue this case, he said, adding that the committee should summon IGP Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to brief the committee about the case.

According to the police, the US national of Pakistan origin was murdered by her former husband Rizwan Habib Bangash, 29. She was choked to death and also had two knife wounds on her neck, her post-mortem examination showed.

The committee also discussed “The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties (amendment) Bill, 2021” moved by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed. Ahmed said that the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Act was amended to meet requirement of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). All the board of madaris have expressed reservation over the amendment in the act and submitted it before the National Assembly speaker, he said.

He suggested that the committee should sought opinion the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and all boards of madaris about the amendment in the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Act.

Aziz said that all the provincial governments have passed similar kinds of bills.

The committee discussed the bill in detail and asked the concerned department to submit clause-wise comparative chart of existing laws in the other provinces with respect to amendment bill before the committee.

Waqar Chauhan, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Islamabad zone briefed the committee about inquiries regarding various housing societies including the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Employees Cooperative Housing Society (PAEC-ECHS), the Jammu and Kashmir Housing Society, the Pakistan Medical Cooperative Housing Society, Ghauri Town Housing Society, and Ghauri Green House Society.

The committee set up a sub-committee to look into the problems of the victims of different housing societies and provide them relief.

The committee also decided to write a letter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regarding housing societies’ issues.

Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Faisal Saleem Rehman, Muhammad Talha Mahmood, Samina Mumtaz Zehri, Fawzia Arshad, and senior officials of the Ministry of Interior, and the district administration attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021