As MNA Barrister Gohar Ali Khan urged the government to have the “courage to give answers,” the PTI on Wednesday restated its demand for an investigation into the purported deaths of its supporters during its rally in Islamabad last month.
Gohar’s comments were made the day after Omar Ayub, the leader of the National Assembly opposition, demanded a judicial investigation into the situation, accusing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of giving an “order to kill” and claiming that security forces used deadly weapons supplied by NATO for counterterrorism.
In his response to the opposition leader’s address, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif criticized the opposition for using the “provincial card” to support its erroneous narrative and denied all of its charges.
With Gohar “distancing” the party from the “exaggerated” number of casualties being circulated on social media, the PTI has formally acknowledged the deaths of 12 of its members during the November 26 demonstration, when a government crackdown forced the party’s top leadership to flee.
Gohar stated that he will limit his remarks to the “massacre that took place in Islamabad” while addressing the NA floor today.
“There should at least be the courage to give answers, show remorse, apologise, investigate, and compensate the people, even if bullets have been fired,” the PTI chairman insisted.
“People do not forget the echo of a bullet; they remember it for generations.”
The PTI chairman threatened to stage more protests by his party if the demand for an investigation was not met, even though the NA session went off without any significant commotion or disturbances.
“If there were gunshots, someone has to take responsibility. Additionally, we want justice to be served and want this House to support it. Don’t make us go out on the streets once more,” Gohar remarked.
He said that the demonstrators who had assembled in Islamabad were nonviolent and did not employ “guerilla force” or carry any weapons. They were civilians from Pakistan. There was no training for them.
When Gohar urged PPP MNA Khursheed Shah, who is in charge of a special parliamentary committee that was established in September, to call a meeting of the body, he said that “no progress made.”
He bemoaned the fact that the NA’s Standing Committee on Human Rights was led by PTI ally Sahibzada Hamid Raza, an MNA on the Sunni Ittehad Council, but that despite his calls for it, the meeting “could not take place.”
“I think today is also a day of mourning for this House, as 12 people were martyred on its doorsteps,” the PTI leader declared.
Gohar stated, “We want to take advantage of your experience, Khawaja sahib,” in reference to PML-N’s Asif. Since you have served in this parliament longer than I have, is it appropriate for you to claim that no shots were fired as a leader?
“This is not the moment for retaliation, but you could have brought up the record, requested an investigation, and filed a case. These people are both our and your citizens. Although we claim to be the administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, not everyone there is a member of the PTI. There are people there from every political party, religion, and ethnicity […], but we didn’t shoot anyone.
“The beauty of democracy is that we can protest in this Assembly, at public servant offices, and the public protests on the streets,” the member added, emphasizing that protesting was a fundamental right.
Gohar claimed that although the government had labeled the PTI as criminals, the party had neither retaliated nor referred to the ruling coalition party, the PML-N, as a “murderer league.”
“Look at what happened to Hasina Wajid, who used to call peaceful students miscreants,” he said, recalling the riots in Bangladesh earlier this year, where nationwide demonstrations resulted in the removal of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Despite all of the tyranny that PTI has experienced—including the deaths and injuries of our people—we have maintained our respectable relationship throughout our history.”
“Did anyone fire a bullet [at protesters] there?” the PTI leader rhetorically asked, referring to a number of instances where demonstrators stormed parliament buildings around the world, including in India and Brazil last year, Sri Lanka in 2022, the US Capitol Hill incident in 2021, Canada, and South Korea last week.
Similar to its stance yesterday, the opposition PTI adopted a fairly restrained stance by choosing to take part in the proceedings rather than interfere with them. This is a change from its previous actions, in which its members had caused noisy demonstrations and disturbances over even trivial matters.
In a statement released following a parliamentary party meeting earlier yesterday, the PTI said that its members would strongly protest in the NA over the government’s alleged use of violent force against the party.
Everyone in the Parliament House galleries was anticipating raucous proceedings because it was the first sitting following the events of November 26, when PTI workers led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and former first lady Bushra Bibi were forced to flee Islamabad’s Blue Area due to a crackdown.
They were shocked, meanwhile, to witness the opposition members listening in silence to the fiery defense minister, who even attacked the opposition leader personally.
As the first speaker, Ayub had called for the creation of an “impartial judicial commission” to determine “who fired the bullets and who gave the order to the security forces to open fire on peaceful and unarmed protesters.”
Twelve PTI supporters were slain, he said, while over 200 remained unaccounted for and may be classified as “presumed dead.”
The law minister is in favor of the opposition bringing up problems in parliament.
As a sign of democracy, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar praised the opposition for using the parliamentary forum to voice concerns.
“It is encouraging to see opposition members using the parliament to discuss issues rather than confrontation,” Tarar told the NA. This is what democracy is all about.
He emphasized that the Pakistani people have trusted their elected representatives to address their concerns in the parliament, which they refer to as the nation’s highest platform, and seek practical solutions.
Given that taxpayer funds were being used to fund the proceedings, the law minister emphasized the value of having productive conversations within the house.
He praised the government’s efforts to stabilize the economy and invited opposition members to offer constructive criticism.
In response to a query, Tarar stated that the prime minister had instructed the administration to make sure that ministries took parliamentary business seriously and addressed concerns brought up in the House. Additionally, he pointed out that in the absence of ministers, secretaries are permitted to reply to inquiries and “calling attention” notices under parliamentary rules.
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