PESHAWAR: Treasury and opposition lawmakers from the merged tribal districts on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to protest a quadcopter strike in Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district that injured civilians, mostly children.

A heated debate was also witnessed in the house over the attack, with the members urging the chair to summon authorities for explanation.

Starting a debate on the strike in the session chaired by Deputy Speaker Suriya Bibi, lawmaker of the ruling PTI from Khyber tribal district Abdul Ghani alleged that ‘state institutions’ had attacked Midan area of Tirah valley with a drone ‘that left 15 children injured’.

“All the wounded children belong to my own tribe. They’re 4-8 years of age,” the emotionally charged lawmaker said.

Blame ‘state institutions’ for the incident

Mr Ghani said during his visit to hospital, when one of the children asked why they were bombed, he had no answer.

“I am part of this house but the state institutions are shelling my tribe. Who will tell me why innocent children were targeted,” he said in a choked voice.

The lawmaker said it was the responsibility of the entire house to summon authorities responsible for the attack and award exemplary punishment.

“Two among the wounded children are orphans, with one of them left permanently disabled due to injury to the spinal cord,” he said.

Mr Ghani walked out from the sitting to protest the quadcopter strike, while other lawmakers from the merged tribal districts, both treasury and opposition ones, accompanied him.

MPA of the ruling PTI Laiq Mohammad also condemned the injury to children in the quadcopter attack and expressed concern over damage caused to public life and property in the war on terrorism.

He demanded the chair order a probe into the incident to identify those responsible.

The member urged the government to punish all those responsible for the attack and said if that didn’t happen, then his and other lawmakers presence in the assembly would be of no use.

“The entire nation is standing with the injured children,” he said.

Housing minister Dr Amjad Ali demanded that the militants killed in the attack be shown to the people.

“Why were innocent children wounded in the drone strike?”

The minister said such incidents would increase people’s bad feelings for certain state institutions.

He demanded the chair set up a permanent house committee with members from both the treasury and opposition benches to probe such incidents and present reports in the house.

PTI MPA from Chital Fatehul Mulk also condemned the attack injuring children and said the house stood by the victims and their families.

“I condemn it. I ask the federal government why that strike happened and who is conducting it,” he said.

Opposition MPA Ahmed Karim Kundi urged the provincial government to take up the issue with the federal government to prevent such incidents.

Earlier, the government faced embarrassment as the cabinet members were not present in the house to reply to the questions of the opposition members, leaving most questions unanswered.

The house also approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Livestock Breeding Services Bill, 2024.

The chair adjourned the session until 3pm on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2024