ISLAMABAD -  Senate Standing Committee on Interior Friday handed over new medals especially made for famous poet late Ahmed Faraz to his son Senator Shibli Faraz as the previous ones had stolen during a robbery incident.

Chairman committee Rehman Malik handed over the medals to Senator Shibli Faraz during the committee meeting.

The medals of Ahmed Faraz had stolen during a robbery incident at residence of renowned poet that is located in one of the posh sectors of Islamabad. The famous poet’s house has been robbed twice.

Chairman committee in his personal capacity had directed the Pakistan Mint to make new medals that were earlier conferred upon late poet by the Government of Pakistan.

The chair remarked that Islamabad Police had recovered the medals in deformed and broken form and so new medals had been made. Senator Shibli Faraz more than once during the committee’s meetings had complained that Islamabad police were not serious in tracing out the two robbery incidents held at the residence of his late father. The police claims that some of the accused had absconded to Afghanistan.

On the occasion, Senator Rehman Malik paid a rich tribute to late Ahmed Faraz and said he was a great poet who shall be remembered forever in the history of Pakistan for his contribution to the Urdu poetry and literature.

The committee also cleared the ‘The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ that seeks from employer to pay the wages to the employee through cheque or crediting it to his/her bank account. The bill, moved by Senator Javed Abbasi, said that existing law the ‘Payment of Wages Act, 1936 regulated the payment of wages of certain classes of employed persons and had become old with the growing technology. He said that the proposed amendment in the law would reduce the complaints with regard to non-payment or less payment of minimum wages, besides serving the purpose of less cash economy.

The committee also passed another bill seeking increase in punishment of the accused who distributes obscene material.  The bill ‘Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ that was moved by Senator Sirajul Haq says that  with the passage of time, obscenity has not only disturbed the individual lives but it has become a terrible act of annoyance for the whole society, especially for women folks.

The meeting also discussed the ‘Miscarriage of Justice (Compensation) Act, 2017’ which was moved by Senator Azam Khan Swati. The bill seeks compensation for those who are victims of the miscarriage of justice. The meeting recommended that the bill would be discussed with due diligence and research.

The committee strongly condemned the terror attack in New York and called it as atrocious act of terrorism wherein innocent people were killed. The chair in his opening remarks said that the US has to change its policy and instead of asking others to “Do More” needs to “Do More” to eliminate terrorism. 

The meeting discussed the petition of Farzana Khan on the murder of her husband Ali Asghar Khan—a British national, in which police claimed to have arrested the five accused out of six. The chair ordered the transfer of investigation from district Haripur to Peshawar and directed for the formation of the joint investigation team into the case and directed the police to conclude the case within 30 working days.

The committee also discussed in detail the issue of attack on a journalist Ahmed Noorani. The inspector general of police (IGP) Islamabad briefed the committee and said that the matter was under investigation and police had some leads which would soon conclude the investigation. The IGP termed it a ‘blind case’. He said that geo-fencing was done in the case and the footage of the cameras of the Safe City had been got to reach out to the culprits.

The committee took notice of the delay in investigation of the murder of Shia cleric Sheikh Muhammad Nawaz Irfani who was brutally killed in Islamabad in 2014 on the request of MNA Sajid Hussain Turi and Sentaor Sajjad Hussain Turi. “Shiekh Nawaz Irfani was killed brutally by two motorcyclists back in 2014 but police could not find any clue about the culprits” said MNA Sajid Hussain Turi. Senator Turi said that more than three years passed but police and security agencies had failed to identify and arrest the killers of cleric.

He chair directed the IGP Islamabad Khalid Khattak to investigate the case and listen to the members of parliament by inviting them to their office on Monday and submit a comprehensive report on the murder case in next meeting of the committee.

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, secretary interior, IGP, SSP Islamabad Po, DPO Haripur Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, DIG Police Larkana and number of officials from Ministry Of Interior, law division attended the meeting besides others.