Opposition benches at the Upper House of parliament on Tuesday pushed for a on the situation that arose in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s acquittal of Asia Bibi in the blasphemy case against her.
But before the debate formally began, Information Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui filed a motion to withdraw proposed amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act on behalf of the government, which was approved by the House.
The minister said that the bill had been authored on the directives of deposed Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and it was therefore proper that the government re-examine it.
Right after, the opposition drew the attention of the house on Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) nationwide protests.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentary Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman said: “We do not want the state and constitution to be sullied like this. But what happened was not less than a grave tragedy. The whole country was locked down for three days and our state institutions were maligned. What kind of message is being sent with these actions?”
She said that this was the first time the state was challenged like that. “How can this challenge be ignored?”
She said that the PPP would not politicise the issues but demanded the state to provide protection to everyone.
“Those who are openly rebelling against the law and constitution should be dealt with firmly. This is a trying time for Pakistan: the government should not try to bypass parliament,” she concluded. The PPP veteran also sought answers from the government over loans secured from foreign governments and foreign policy. “The parliament was not taken into confidence on loans,” she regretted.
Published in Daily Times, November 7th 2018.
