ISLAMABAD - The lawmakers from government and opposition in Tuesday’s national assembly proceedings continued debate on the Sahiwal tragedy, whereas, the JIT report over the incident could not be presented in the house.

Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, with the onset of proceedings, informed the house that a case has been registered against 16 people, responsible for the Sahiwal incident, under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC).

“FIR has been registered against 16 including ten in uniform and remaining in plainclothes who were involved in the incident,” said the minister.

The opposition side on Monday last had strongly criticized the Punjab government for registering an FIR against unknown persons.

The government side also assured to share the JIT report on the Sahiwal incident in the middle of house proceedings, however, no report was presented and the house was adjourned only after the speeches of lawmakers.

Taking part in the debate, PPP-P’s senior lawmaker Khursheed Shah was of the view that the discussion could be meaningful only after presenting the JIT report by the government side. “Point scoring should be avoided on this important matter,” he said adding that even a terrorist was not killed in this brutal way. “It’s quite amazing that the government is announcing compensation of Rs2 crore for those it had declared terrorists,” said the former opposition leader, criticizing the government ministers for changing statements on this sad incident. He said the Punjab government had failed to protect people’s lives.

Taking part in the debate, MNA Saif-ur-Rahman said that there was a need to form a parliamentary committee to probe the assets of SSP Rao Anwaar. “Why NAB has still not initiated probe against him,” he questioned.

PPP-P senior MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that there should not be point scoring on this sensitive matter. “Rao Anwaar is in custody...Linking the Sahiwal incident with Rao Anwaar makes no sense,” said the former prime minister.

Dr. Shehnaz Baloch, on her turn, said there should be proper training of law enforcement agencies to avoid such kind of incidents in future.

MNA Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf condemning the tragedy said that a strict action should be taken against those responsible for the incident.

Dr. Haider Ali and Saif-ur-Rehman said that the lawmakers should avoid blame-game and point-scoring as proper suggestion should be given. They said independent probe should be carried out into the matter to fix the responsibility.

MNA Mohsin Dawar from Waziristan said that a committee should be formed to investigate the ‘Khastoor’ incident. “Thanks to social media the incident of our area was highlighted,” he said. 

The House offered fateha for the departed souls of 27 people killed in an accident in Balochistan. Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali led the fateha.