RAWALPINDI: The Opposition members in the National Assembly today [June 6] staged a walk-out when they failed in their bid to raise a discussion on the recent incidents at Multan and Lahore and the alleged use of the Federal Security Force personnel to disrupt these meetings — through six adjournment motions which they had tabled on the subject.

The Home Minister, Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan … conceded that the [FSF] personnel had been used at Lahore to ensure that people with arms did not come to the meeting place … but he denied that they had been used at Multan. Besides, he argued that the Provincial Governments were entitled to deploy the [FSF] to assist the civil authority for the maintenance of law and order — which happened in the case of Lahore. …

The Opposition, however, insisted that the [FSF] had been used to violate the constitutional guarantees for freedom of speech and assembly which were a serious matter. … Taking the floor, Jamaat-i-Islami’s Prof. Ghafoor Ahmed alleged that the [FSF] was being used to protect goondas, disrupt the Opposition meetings, and violate the people’s Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and Assembly. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2023