Senator Irfan Siddiqui of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said on Thursday dialogue and reconciliation were the solution to the problems.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Siddiqui said the history of Pakistan was full of ups and downs, but “we have probably learnt no lesson from our history”. He said that people who came to protest in Islamabad were Pakistanis and those who were deployed in the capital were also Pakistanis.
He said that there were 195 countries in the world, but no country gives its people an unconditional right to protest. He said that people could not raise jihad related slogans at any protest anywhere in the world. He said that no country in the world will allow the protesters to bring with them sticks, nails and slingshots.
He said that an application is submitted and then the venue of the protest is decided in line with the law. Referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) protest in Islamabad on November 26, he said that no application was given, but the protest was staged. He said that even today “we want dialogue with an open heart”. He said that things cannot move forward without dialogue.