ISLAMABAD: A PML-N senator on Tuesday flabbergasted many by raising the issue of continued detention of numerous PTI lawmakers and women activists and called for the issuance of production orders for PTI senators who were either behind bars or hiding to avoid arrests after the May 9 episode.

PML-N Senator Saadia Abbasi pointed out that a bill had been passed that provided for issuing production orders for those members of parliament who are either in jail or facing some ban or difficulty to get to parliament.

She regretted that PTI senators, including Ejaz Chaudhry, Azam Khan Swati, Shaukat Tarin, Shibli Faraz and Faisal Javed, had not been attending sessions of the house for a long time. One PTI senator attended the session the other day after 18 months, she said, referring to Dr Humayun Mohmand.

She said the fellow lawmakers should have submitted an application for their production orders.

NP legislator calls for meaningful talks on Balochistan’s problems

The senator deplored the treatment being meted out to former Punjab chief minister and PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, saying he is released in one case and arrested in another.

She said her party had faced injustices in the past, but this didn’t mean that she should not raise voice for those about which no one was ready to speak.

National Party Senator Tahir Bizenjo said Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were facing the worst law and order situation as compared to other areas.

He said the use of force was not a solution to the Balochistan problem, adding that the state should initiate result-oriented talks with the people of the province after providing justice to the “families of thousands of missing persons”.

Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Sardar Shafiq Tareen said thousands had staged a sit-in near the Chaman border crossing for the last 18 days to protest against the caretaker government’s decision not to allow anyone to cross the border without a passport.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2023