ISLAMABAD - Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Interior Senator A. Rehman Malik Monday said that he was shocked to see US President Donald Trump standing with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston at ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event.
While chairing the committee meeting, he said he was expecting the US President would be condemning around 50-day curfew and unprecedented brutalities and worst kind of human rights violations by the Modi government in Indian-occupied Kashmir. But sadly he spoke not a single word for Kashmir at the September 22 event. “Earlier I had appealed to US President Donald Trump not to give joint appearance with PM Modi unless he orders to lift the curfew, stops brutalities and withdraw Indian troops from Kashmir.”
He said the joint appearance had hurt sentiments of Kashmiris who were under siege for the last 50 days facing shortage of food and medicines. He reminded that PM Modi was prohibited from visiting US for a decade under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) provision of US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) for his role in killings of Muslims of Gujarat. He stressed that PM Modi should have been under sanctions rather than rubbing shoulders with President Donald Trump in the ‘Howdy-Modi’ event.
The committee also strongly condemned the IED explosion on Pakistan-Afghan border in which Major Adeel Shahid, and Sepoy Faraz Hussain, embraced martyrdom. The meeting paid rich tribute to martyrs of Pakistan Army and offered Fateha for their departed souls.
The meeting that was held under the chairmanship of Senator A. Rehman Malik at Parliament House also expressed grief over the death of 27 passengers in roadside bus accident at Babusar Pass, Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
In his opening remarks, Malik said that the committee strongly condemned IED explosion on the Pak-Afghan border and expressed heartfelt condolences with the bereaved families of the martyrs and paid rich tribute to the martyrs of armed forces and all law enforcement agencies. He alleged that Pakistaan was fencing the border to control cross-border movement of terrorists while Indian trained terrorists were attacking their forces to sabotage the process of fencing on the border. The chair asked the government of Afghanistan to control cross-border attacks from its soil against Pakistan. The committee considered the suo-moto notice taken by the chairman regarding “custodial death of Salahuddin on 30th August”. The Inspector General Police Punjab Capt. (redt) Arif Nawaz Khan told the meeting that on the complaint of Salahuddin’ s father, FIR (first information report) was lodged against station house officer, investigation officers and other policemen who were on duty, under murder charges. The police chief informed that the father of deceased was not satisfied with the postmortem report so the autopsy was re-conducted after exhumation of body on Saturday. He assured the committee that justice will be done in the case and requested that the sincerity of police in pursuing the case should not be doubted.
Senator Malik said that the Article 14 of the Constitution of Pakistan dealt with the inviolability of dignity of citizens, arrested or detained by the police. He said that no person should be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence but sadly custodial torture and killings had become a norm in police.
He said that although the constitution did provide protection of every kind but it never defined any punishment to those police officials involved in torture. He said that it was need of hour that another law defining stringent punishment should be made and implemented against torture and custodial killings in the constitution. The chairman committee said that he had prepared 26-point proposals which he would be sharing with Ministry of Interior, Law Division and IG Police of four provinces seeking their recommendations for framing the said law. He said that Senator Farhatullah Babar and Senator Farooq H. Naek had already got a draft bill “The Torture, Custodial Death and Custodial Rape (Prevention and Punishment), Act, 2015” passed by the Senate but unfortunately it could not be passed by the National Assembly in the given 90 days. He directed Punjab police chief to give standing instructions to all SHOs strictly directing them to refrain from all kind of torture in police stations.
Taking the matter of alleged rape and killing of children in Kasur, Senator Malik directed IGP Punjab that people across the country were very concerned about the rapid increase in the kidnapping, raping and killing of minors. He said it was another serious challenge for Punjab Police and hoped that police would unearth the gang behind this heinous crime. He directed that committee would be taking briefing on this issue in the next meeting.
IG Police Islamabad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan briefed the committee about the prevailing law and order situation in the capital. He told the meeting that Islamabad Police was facing shortage of staff and the appointments were halted since, 2004. However, most recently the prime minister had sanctioned appointment of 1280 personnel for which test and interviews had been conducted, he added.
The chair said that there was always a room for improvement as he had been receiving complaints from the residents of few sectors regarding robberies, burglaries, car lifting and street crimes.
He directed that patrolling in the vulnerable areas should be increased to control over such crimes.
Senator Malik directed Ministry of Interior that police particularly the Islamabad Police should be equipped with all modern facilities both in field and training centres to meet modern challenges.
The committee expressed annoyance over alleged incident of sexual assault of a prisoner and negligence shown by jail officials in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. The committee directed that the matter should be investigated thoroughly and a detailed report be presented in the next meeting.
The chairman directed that more barracks should be constructed in Adiala Jail to accommodate prisoners. He also directed the Ministry of Interior to coordinate with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for shifting of 800 prisoners there who were languishing in Punjab’s prisons.