ISLAMABAD: Minister for Parlia­mentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on Tuesday proposed an inquiry into the alleged employment of Indian nationals by an industrial unit.

Speaking in the Senate in response to former information minister Pervez Rasheed’s objection to his remarks made in the house a day earlier, the minister said he had named nobody and had just talked about some media reports.

He recalled that in September 2016, Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri had been quoted by the media as alleging that 300 Indians, who had been permitted to come without visas, had been employed by an industrial unit (Ramzan Sugar Mills).

He proposed formation of either a special Senate committee, or a parliamentary panel comprising members of both houses of parliament or a judicial commission to probe the matter.

PML-N, PPP, MQM call for judicial inquiry into Sahiwal tragedy

He said the then prime minister and chief minister of Punjab besides the law enforcing agencies should be summoned to ask how it happened.

Earlier, Pervez Rasheed had asked the minister to name the industry and provide details of the individuals who were allowed to come and work without visas. He said the immigration authorities should be asked how they had come if it was true. “Those responsible should be brought to the dock if it happened,” he remarked.

He said the remarks of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that “decisive forces” were not tolerating Nawaz Sharif had exposed the claims of accountability and allegations of corruption.

Mr Rasheed said the government claimed that Nawaz Sharif was behind bars for corruption, but it now stood revealed why he was in jail. He asked the government to name the “decisive forces”.

“In our point of view the decisive forces are the people and their votes,” he remarked, questioning the government to explain their definition of the “decisive forces”.

Sahiwal tragedy

Members from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) called for formation of a judicial commission to probe the Sahiwal tragedy.

Javed Abbasi of the PML-N said the family members of the victims during a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior had expressed mistrust in the joint investigation team (JIT) observing that they would not get justice in the presence of the JIT.

Raza Rabbani of the PPP said it was an important issue both with human and legal angles. “How can a JIT be formed comprising peers and colleagues of those involved in the horrible incident?” he wondered.

Mohammad Ali Saif of the MQM noted that a judicial commission should be formed to probe the incident.

Leader of the House in the Senate Syed Shibli Faraz assured the senators that their concerns would be conveyed to the government. He said the government too wanted a transparent inquiry into the incident and hinted that the proposal for conducting a judicial probe could be accepted.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2019