ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani has asked the government to explain the forced repatriation of Turkish teachers from Pakistan.

During the course of Senate proceedings on Friday, Mr Rabbani ruled that the observations made by a senator on the issue of repatriation of teachers at Turkish schools in Pakistan and their families should be provided to the interior minister so he could give a policy statement on the matter.

Senator Farhatullah Babar raised the issue in the house, saying that nearly 300 Turkish nationals in Pakistan faced grave human rights abuse by way of arbitrary arrests and forcible repatriation to Turkey in contravention of various international covenants that Pakistan had signed and ratified.

He said that Turkish President Erdogan and Turkey were friends of Pakistan, but warned against becoming party to Turkey’s political infighting. “We must not forget how we burnt our fingers by meddling in the internal affairs of other countries,” the senator warned.

Turkey had managed to get Myanmar and Saudi Arabia to forcibly repatriate its citizens, he said and asked whether Pakistan, too, had joined the ranks of these countries.

He recalled that last month the former head of Pak-Turk schools in Pakistan was abducted along with his family and then forcibly repatriated through a Turkish police contingent that had flown back in a Turkish plane.

Chairman warns of action against those ministers who fail to turn up when matters relevant to them are taken up

While on a visit to the United States earlier this month, the foreign minister had given assurances that there would be no repatriations as long as the Turkish teachers had stay orders from the courts and possessed asylum seeker certificates issued by the UNHCR. Mr Babar asked whether Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif was in charge of the policy in this regard.

He said the situation had become more disturbing during the past months as some of the Turkish families had newborn babies who did not have passports, while the passports of some of the Turkish nationals had expired. He added that the citizenship of some of the teachers had been revoked by the Turkish government.

Pakistan had signed and ratified several human rights covenants and handing over the Turkish nationals in this manner was a grave violation which merited a reversal of the decision, he said.

Earlier during the question hour, Mr Rabbani, taking strong exception to the disclosure that the house had been misled by a minister who had tried to justify the absence of another minister a day before, warned that he would act against the ministers who did not turn up when matters relevant to them were on the agenda.

The remarks were directed at the minister of state for ports and shipping who had responded to a question on behalf of Energy Minister Jam Kamal. “Where is the minister concerned,” Mr Rabbani asked, pointing out that Safron Minister retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir had earlier replied on behalf of the minister for religious affairs. He noted that ministers who were not ready to reply to questions pertaining to their respective ministries should resign. “Why are they affecting parliament? This is the Senate and not a Rajwara (town development committee),” he remarked, announcing that he would act against such ministers under Rule 13 and bar them from attending house proceedings for a specified period.

Addressing Raja Zafarul Haq, Leader of the House, Mr Rabbani recalled that Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad had justified the absence of the minister for capital administration and development division (CADD). He, however, pointed out that the CADD minister was seen addressing a public rally or seminar on the TV. “What should I do?” Mr Rabbani asked Mr Haq, who sought some time to seek an explanation from the minister concerned. Mr Haq agreed that the house could not be run like this.

The Senate adopted a resolution condemning state terrorism by Indian forces as it commemorated the 70th anniversary of the day Indian forces had landed in Kashmir.

The house deplored the silence of the international community towards the ongoing violence in occupied Kashmir, and pointed out that Pakistan had always tried to engage India in a dialogue over the matter, but the latter had continuously rejected those proposals.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2017