‘D-Chowk debacle’ probe: PTI leader demands govt form fact-finding commission

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Parliamentary Leader in Senate, Barrister Ali Zafar has questioned the silence of treasury lawmakers in the upper house of the Parliament in condemning the D-Chowk debacle, demanding the formation of a truth finding commission to investigate the violence.

“You still have time — you should condemn the tyranny inflicted on peaceful protestors on D-Chowk,” he said, addressing the treasury side, on the floor of the house in the Senate session on Thursday.

“Whosoever is defending that day, I strongly condemn them,” he said.

“We have showed you the path to truth and reconciliation—you say nothing happened, we say a lot happened—let’s find the truth—let’s establish a truth finding commission; an independent commission to determine who fired the bullets,” the lawmaker said.

“If we are wrong we will apologise, and if you are wrong, then you have to apologise.”

The perpetrators behind the D-Chowk debacle would be held accountable in the court of the public, Zafar said.

“We will not let the sacrifices of the martyrs go in vain,” he added.

“There is no democracy—a tyrant system is in effect—those Pakistanis who take to roads in pursuit of their rights are subjected to indiscriminate firing—they are martyred.”

Zafar said even if one person is “martyred, injured or arrested while exercising their basic right to protest, then there no brutality greater than that. It is a crime they (government) are responsible for.”

On the other hand, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman said, the PTI should apologise “for what it did on 24 November.”

She also accused the PTI of last year’s 9 May carnage. “No political party did what they did on 9 May—even now they have given the civil disobedience movement call,” she said.

Constitution and law were flouted with impunity when the PTI was in power, she alleged. Rehman also criticised the PTI for not attending an all parties moot convened by the governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“You write letter to the IMF (International Monetary Fund)—you ask the IMF to stop Pakistan’s economy—you better apologise over this letter,” she deplored.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Irfan Siddiqui said the dialogue cannot take place “when the sword of civil disobedience movement is hanging.”

He said peaceful protest is everyone’s right. “But what kind of peaceful protest is this where you keep tear gas with you? Where you raise slogans of jihad—the slogans like ‘do or die?’” he asked.

Earlier, the Senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Israeli bombing in Gaza.

Moved by PPP’s Rehman, the resolution expressed profound concern over the “systemic exercise of impunity by Israel in its actions against Palestine.”

The house noted with alarm the “exploitation of the political vacuum caused by regime collapse in Syria, which Israel is using to advance its unilateral agenda. This agenda now extends beyond Palestine to violations of the sovereignty of Syria and many other countries.”

The Senate called on the international community to take decisive action to protect Palestinian lives, hold Israel accountable for war crimes, and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law. It said an end to the culture of impunity is essential for achieving peace, justice and the protection of human rights in Palestine, the occupied territories and the Middle East.

The session was adjourned till Friday (Dec 13).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024