ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, during a National Assembly session on Thursday, skipped a question seeking findings of the investigations into the death of a Pakistani student, Aamir Cheema, in a German prison in May.

As the members had already agreed to suspending the Question Hour, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) MNA Yasmeen Rehman, who had submitted the question, could not get an opportunity to seek explanation from the interior minister as to why he had not presented the inquiry report of the incident before the assembly.

Aamir Cheema, a resident of Rawalpindi studying in Germany, was reportedly arrested in Berlin on March 20, when he was trying to enter the offices of the newspaper, Die Welt, with a knife to allegedly kill its editor for publishing the blasphemous caricatures. But later, according to German authorities, he committed suicide in the prison. The parents of the deceased had alleged that their son was tortured to death during police custody as they saw no reason for Aamir to commit suicide.

Yasmeen Rehman had presented the question in three parts, asking the interior minister to state “(a) the findings of investigations into the death of Aamir Cheema, a Pakistani national, in the prison in Germany; (b) the number and names of officers who went Germany for investigations; and (c) the period spent in Germany for the said purpose”.

The minister, however, submitted a written reply with the answers to the (b) and (c) parts of the question, but there was no mention of the findings of the inquiry report. The minister even did not mention whether the report had been finalised and whether it would be presented before the parliament or not.

Mr Sherpao stated that two officers, Tariq Masood Khosa, the additional director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and Tanveer Ahmed, the deputy inspector general of Punjab Police, were directed by the federal government through the Ministry of Interior to probe the matter. In the second part of his reply, the minister stated that both the officers visited Berlin (Germany) for three days and observed the autopsy proceedings. They also visited the prison and talked to some relevant quarters.

It was reported in the media on May 19 after the visit of the investigation team that the Pakistan government had expressed its reservations over the interim report of Aamir Cheema’s controversial death in Germany, challenging the claim of the German authorities that he had committed suicide in police custody. It was also reported at that time that the FIA had prepared its interim report with some contradictory observations and submitted it to the interior ministry.

Talking to Dawn, Yasmeen Rehman said it was not for the first time that she had not received complete reply to her question. The PPP MNA said she would raise the issue on the floor of the National Assembly and resubmit the question.

Meanwhile, the opposition members also protested over the attitude of the interior ministry officials for not giving replies to most of their questions.

It may be mentioned that the interior ministry had not come up with answers to 15 questions, out of a total of 34, asked by the MNAs during the Thursday’s session. “Reply not received” was the answer to all the 15 questions.