Extremists tore State’s writ into pieces, Raza Rabbani tells Senate

PPP senior leader Senator Raza Rabbani has said that the extremists have torn the State’s writ into pieces, warning that Sialkot lynching-like cases would continue if the root cause of the problem was not uprooted, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing the Senate session on Friday, the former Senate chairman said “Extremists groups were established in the country who ran their own courts in public.”

A charged Rabbani asked the government to divulge the conditions on which the State had brokered a ceasefire agreement with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Raza Rabbani also questioned the government's haste to extend support to the Afghan Taliban, when the latter did "not even recognise the border". Raza Rabbani asked the foreign minister to take the parliament into confidence about a recent incident in which the new rulers in Afghanistan had reportedly barred Pakistan's security forces from fencing the border. "They are not ready to recognise the border, so why are we moving forward?" questioned Rabbani.

The former Senate chairman also raised alarm over reports that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was regrouping in Afghanistan, "which could possibly fuel terrorism in Pakistan". "On what terms is the state talking about a ceasefire with the banned group?" he questioned.

He went on to say that the state of Pakistan meant the civil and military bureaucracy of Pakistan and not the people sitting in parliament.

Raza Rabbani claimed that radicals have ripped the State’s writ away, warning that lynching-like cases in Sialkot will continue unless the fundamental cause of the problem was addressed. "From 1947 to date, the state has always supported right-wing religious and extremist parties and encouraged their internal and external doctrines," Raza Rabbani claimed.

"The people of Pakistan have never been given the right of political dissent," the senator pointed out. "And if a judge passes a judgment against them, the state makes an example out of him. And, all of these people, at one stage or the other become missing people."

Their families keep looking for them, but the state hides them in places, where it's impossible to find them, Rabbani added.

Addressing the session, Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that the lynching and murder of Priyantha Kumara has shaken the nation to the core. "We have arrested the suspects and the case trial will be conducted in an anti-terrorism court," he pointed out. Awan regretted that prolonged cases and delay in justice is the "weakness of our law".

He invited all the parliamentarians to bring reforms in the law that will ensure timely punishment of criminals such as these.

Taking part in the debate, Senator Azam Nazir Tarar said intolerance is spreading fast in their society. “We should forget our political differences and unite on issues like this,” he added.

Azam Nazir Tarar took to the floor to speak about the horrific lynching of Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara, a factory manager in Sialkot, saying "the incident has shaken us to the core". The senator said the brutality with which the mob killed the Sri Lankan citizen was highly reprehensible.

Tarar said the trend of mob violence and torture had increased with time. "This trend sprang up during the era of Gen Ziaul Haq and it was later fanned for political gains," he added.
"This is the social apathy we all have to fight against," Tarar said. He recalled that two brothers were also lynched in the same city by a mob years ago. He said it was parliament's responsibility to ensure necessary legislation to provide justice to the downtrodden.

Leader of the House in Senate Shahzad Wasim said they have to save their children from extremism. “We must unite to legislate, train and train minds against extremism,” he elaborated.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, on the other hand, said that a delegation comprising lawmakers from the Upper House will visit Sri Lanka and meet the family of the deceased. "The delegation will present a resolution passed by the Senate to his family," he said.