May 17, 2005	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, May 16: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Maimoona Hashmi on Monday said a representative of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) would visit Pakistan to witness the hearings of the appeals of acting party president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in the high court and Supreme Court.

Speaking at a press conference with party’s information secretary Siddiqul Farooque and Syed Zafar Ali Shah, the PML-N MNA said the IPU representative, Dr Kamal Hussain, would visit the country on the recommendations of the Human Rights Committee and General Council of the IPU.

Ms Hashmi said the IPU secretary-general had written letters to the chief justice of Pakistan to seek details of the trial. She said the IPU General Council had passed a resolution to express solidarity with Mr Hashmi. Moreover, she said, the IPU had expressed its concern over the fact that Mr Hashmi was not given the right to defend himself in the court. She said the IPU had also mentioned in its resolution that the speaker did not issue production order for Mr Hashmi.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah said the PML-N, the PPP and the MMA members had been asking the speaker to issue production order for Mr Hashmi for the past two years, but to no avail. He said the Human Rights Committee of the IPU would again review Mr Hashmi’s case in October, this year.

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