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Fawad Ch’s entry banned in Senate over his behavior, opposition walks out

November 15, 2018

ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (INP): Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani on Wednesday barred Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry from entering the Upper House of the Parliament till he apologises over his conduct. The chairman directed the minister to appear before the house and apologise for his non-parliamentary words. The decision was taken on the demand of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Sherry Rehman who urged to stop raising the slogans of ‘dacoits, thieves’ for smooth running of political system in the country. Fawad Chaudhry is disrespecting Senate chairman, she added. The opposition parties also staged walkout from the House and announced not to return until information minister’s apology. The chair asked the government to brief the House about the issue of SP Tahir Dawar on Thursday, after the opposition agitated on not being informed the factual opposition, as the social media had reports of his assassination and that his body had been received by Pakistan’s Consulate in Jalalabad. He gave this ruling after Fawad agreed with the opposition that the matter about the serving officer was very important but said the Secretary Interior had informed that reports regarding the officer were yet to be confirmed. He promised to let the House know on receiving authenticated reports. Opposition protested when he offered PPP Senator Sherry Rehman and JI’s Mushtaq Ahmad to join the investigation, if they had more information than the government. Senator Mushtaq alleged that the information was being concealed. Leader of Opposition clarified that the issue pertained not to the interior, as it happened in another country and that the photos of his tortured body were also available on social media. Earlier, Raja Zafar said the issue of a state functionary, who was in uniform and went missing, was raised in the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs earlier in the day but there was no response from the government. Senator Sherry said that the matter was very strange and of great concern that a serving SP’s body was collected by Pakistani Consulate, who was handling several cases of terrorism while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Senate panel that they had no information about that. The responsibility of his killing was claimed by Khorasani in Afghanistan. Referring to slain officer’s pictures, she said it was a matter of grave concern and that the government should give statement in the House on this issue.