24 December 2004	Friday	11 Ziqa'ad 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) on Thursday submitted another motion to the National Assembly Secretariat to raise the issue of police torture on the parliamentarians , journalists and ordinary people on December 21 when Asif Zardari was due to arrive at the Islamabad Airport.

Earlier, on Wednesday, some seven members the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) who had to face humiliation at the hand of the Punjab police officers, submitted three privilege motions demanding action against the responsible officials. On Thursday, 13 members of the ARD submitted an adjournment motion under Rule 92 of the Rules and Procedures for Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 1992.

According to the ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi, the motion has been signed by Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Zamarrud Khan, Naheed Khan, Fauzia Habib, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Khalid Iqbal Memon, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Nayyar Bokhari, Rukhsana Bangash, Zulfiqar Gondal and Khwaja Asif.

Through the motion, the ARD members stated that "a heavy contingent of armed police, deployed at different entrance points of the Islamabad Airport not only mistreated the parliamentarians but also manhandled journalists and some of the passengers and resorted to baton-charge several times to disperse them."

The ARD members stated that the journalists, belonging to the electronic and print media, were not allowed entry to the airport lounge to perform their official duties despite several requests. They said the police even did not allow PPP MNAs Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Khalid Memon and Raja Pervez Ashraf and MPA Farzana Raja to go to the main lounge of the airport despite having special VIP cards.

The police not only baton-charged the people but also used water cannon to disperse the crowd. Besides this, they said, due to blockade of roads leading to the airport a large number of passengers also had to face hardships.

The ARD members demanded that the matter should be discussed on the floor of the house after adjourning normal proceedings. The opposition is also planning to move some motions in this regard in the Senate.