Balochistan Point Voice of Nation
Quetta: Expressing resentment over absence of relevant officers, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights has decided to summon chief secretary, home secretary and secretary health of Balochistan in person to discuss Quetta carnage in the next meeting. The committee met with MNA Babar Nawaz Khan in the chair at Parliament Lodges on Monday.
According to the agenda, the representatives of Balochistan govt were supposed to brief the committee about “Quetta Carnage” issue, but unfortunately no relevant person was available in the meeting. Therefore, the committee showed its displeasure and decided to summon the chief secretary, home secretary and secretary health, government of Balochistan, in the next meeting in person to discuss the issue.
The committee said the representatives of government of Balochistan has been called 3 times for giving their briefings on this issue but no one did appear before the committee and then the chairman National Commission of Human Right (CHR) briefed the committee on this issue but he could not satisfy the committee with his briefing. Later, the committee directed him to submit comprehensive report with recommendations on this issue in the next upcoming meeting.
The representatives from the Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and chairman NCHR briefed the committee about the present status of initial report on the implementation of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The committee was informed by Ministry of Human Rights that pertaining to compliance of this report, Ministry of Human Rights had written many letters/reminders to the Ministry of Interior and Narcotics Control and all provincial governments, but so far they did not give their response; that’s why the aforesaid report is going delay.
The committee examined the matter thoroughly and directed that all the concerned should be responded properly, so that the report must be submitted within given time. Furthermore, the committee recommended that before signing any international treaty on human rights by the government of Pakistan, both parliamentary committees on human rights in Senate and National Assembly must be taken on board.
Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, Begum Tahira Bukhari, Surriya Asghar, Kiran Haider, Asiya Naz Tanoli, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Dr Shazia Sobia, Musarat Rafique Mahesar, Munaza Hassan, Sajid Nawaz, Aliya Kamran Murtaza and Naseema Hafeez Panezai attended the meeting, besides senior officers from the Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Commission for Human Rights.
Published in The Balochistan Point on January 24, 2017
