Govt distances itself from ex-senator Hafiz Hamdullah’s citizenship row – Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: In a measure that surprised many, the government on Monday rejected the attempt to cancel the citizenship of the leader and former senator of the JUI-F, Hafiz Hamdullah.

To end the discussion in the Senate, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Azam Swati, said that after receiving a report from agencies according to which Hafiz Hamdullah had obtained his computerized national identity card (CNIC) based on false documents, he I had sent him a notice. on September 1 and the CNIC had been canceled on October 11. Noting that Hafiz Hamdullah had been a senator, he asked why the investigation did not take place when he had submitted his documents to challenge the polls, if he was a foreigner. He also said that Nadra's investigation into the matter was ongoing.

Swati invited the opposition to sit down with the government to eliminate failures in the liability law. But at the same time, he rebuked the two main opposition political parties, which he claimed had made serious accusations against each other in the past, for joining now, saying that the common goal was to obstruct responsibility.

Recalling the president of the National Office of Accountability (NAB) that he had been given a mandate under the law, Swati urged him to maintain overall responsibility. The emotionally charged minister also said: "Our government is earning a bad name because of it." He recalled that what Saifur Rehman did in the name of responsibility was part of the story. "That was what is called political responsibility," Swati said. The minister recalled that his party had taken severe measures against 20 of its legislators for selling their votes in the March 2018 Senate elections.

Minister urges the opposition to help eliminate failures in the liability law

Previously, participating in the discussion, former Interior Minister Rehman Malik proposed immunity against arrest to people with the highest portfolios, including the president, prime minister, president and vice president of the Senate, and president and vice president of the National Assembly. He said the investigations should continue, but those people should not be arrested until they are found guilty by a court of law.

Mr. Malik asked the government to immediately allow Nawaz Sharif to proceed abroad to receive medical treatment, stating that under current regulations, the cabinet was the competent authority to remove a name from the Exit Control List (ECL). He said that post facto approval can be given later. In addition, Malik demanded the immediate release of former President Asif Ali Zardari due to his deteriorated state of health.

Quratulain Marri also regretted that Mr. Zardari did not have access to doctors and that his children could not see him. She said a classic example of selective responsibility was that all the people nominated in a reference, except the MPA of the Great Democratic Alliance Hasnain Mirza, were in jail. "Why didn't the man whose mother is a federal minister have been arrested?" He asked and said that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Defense Minister Pervez Khattak also had cases against him. They should also be behind bars, he added. He also wondered why Faryal Talpur had been transferred from the hospital to jail late at night before Eid.

Mushahidullah Khan of the PML-N rejected the government's claim that it had nothing to do with the cases against the main opposition leaders. "You were the plaintiff in the case of Panama against Nawaz Sharif," he reminded the PTI and said that Nawaz Sharif's name had not been there on the list of 456 people with assets abroad. He said that a large number of the 456 were from the PTI but none of them had been subject to any action. In addition, he sought an explanation about the fiasco of the results transmission system (RTS) at the time of the elections.

The house will meet again today (Tuesday) at 3.30 pm.

Posted in Dawn, November 12, 2019