ISLAMABAD: The PTI-led Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa government came under fire from both sides of the aisle in the Senate on Thursday over the deteriorating law and order situation in Parachinar.

Minister for Religious Affairs Chaudhry Salik while speaking in the House said though the law and order was the responsibility of the provincial government, the federal government was ready to extend any assistance required.

About the shortage of life-saving medicines and food items due to closure of roads, he regretted that the repeated offers of cooperation made to the KP government still awaits a response. He said that even if there was a land dispute in the region, it was also the domain of the provincial government to handle it as revenue departments comes under its control.

Holding everyone responsible for the situation in Parachinar, he said that even Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur did not participate in the jirga called by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi over the deteriorating law and order situation in the province.

Earlier, PTI-backed Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) Senator Raja Nasir Abbas, speaking on his calling-attention notice, bitterly criticised the KP government over its inaction and failure in restoring peace in Kurram district, particularly Parachinar.

He said that a message sent from PTI founder to the KP chief minister seeking removal of DC of Kurram was ignored otherwise clashes could have been averted.

The MWM senator urged the PTI founder’s party men in the House to convey to their leader as to what kind of provincial government is in place in the KP and what steps it has taken for restoring peace in Parachinar. He severely criticised the KP government spokesperson for giving a misleading statement in which he claimed there was no shortage of medicines in the violence-hit region.

He asked the chair to form a house committee including treasury members to assess the situation in Kurram district. The MWM senator said there was a serious shortage of medicines and food items in the area as it had been cut off with the rest of the province for the last over two months and several children have died due to shortage of medicines.

“Almost 99 per cent of the people of the area wanted to live in peace but some forces wanted to divide them and they are disrupting peace,” he said.

Senator Nasir Abbas dispelled the impression that violence in Parachinar was sectarian-based. He said a dispute about a small piece of land had been settled but despite that a convoy of buses was attacked, triggering recent violence.

He said that the local administration was asking local people that it would open roads only when they hand over their weapons to the government, to which the people are not ready as Parachinar is surrounded on three sides by Afghanistan border and the people feel insecure because of the threats posed by militants from across the border in Afghanistan.

The MWM leader asked the chair to take notice of the matter and summon the provincial chief secretary and inspector general of police to question why they could not stop this violence.

Presiding Officer Manzoor Ahmed ruled that the government should ask the interior minister to coordinate with the chief secretary to get a report.

Earlier, during Question Hour, Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar informed the Senate the number of registered religious seminaries across the country was 17,738 while the total number of registered students was 2.24 million.

He said the number of registered seminaries in Punjab was over 56pc, exceeding the number of registered madressahs in other parts of the country put together while the KP was on top in terms of the number of students, with most (over 57 per cent) belonging to the province.

In response to a question asked by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, he said that 10,012 seminaries were registered in Punjab and the number of students was 664,065. Similarly, the number of registered madressahs in Sindh was 2,416 with 188,182 students; in Balochistan 575 seminaries were registered with 71,815 students.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2024